Harvey email in marina row

The Whangamata Marina Society says Chris Carter's decision is invalid. Picture / Alan Gibson

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey says Conservation Minister Chris Carter did not warn him he planned to block the development of the Whangamata Marina - despite an email written by the mayor implying the opposite.

Mr Harvey's views are contained in an affidavit filed this week, after a High Court order.

But there appears to be a significant difference between what Mr Harvey has said in the affidavit and the email he sent. Mr Harvey concedes there are apparent discrepancies in the affidavit.

It was sought by lawyers for the Whangamata Marina Society, which is challenging Mr Carter's decision to overrule an Environment Court decision paving the way for the marina development.

The society claims, among other things, that Mr Carter's decision is invalid as he failed to follow due process because he had a predetermined position.

This follows an email written by Mr Harvey to Auckland architect Stephen Smythe nearly a week before the decision was announced, and obtained from Mr Harvey by the society's lawyers, which implied the minister had told Mr Harvey he had made up his mind.

Mr Harvey's March 1 email said the minister had asked him to get a "group of people together to support him in his decision on the Whangamata Bar".

The minister felt it would be "overkill" for him to organise it "so he has asked me to assist quickly and effectively in getting a group of people together to support him", it continued.

Mr Harvey said in the affidavit he had spoken to Mr Carter about the issue before March 1.

In "early March" there had been a "a great deal of discussion in the Herald and other news media" that Mr Carter would reject the Environment's Court recommendation in favour of the marina and "against the backdrop of that speculation I spoke briefly to Mr Carter ... "

Mr Harvey doesn't give a date for that conversation - but the Herald story was published on March 1, the same day he sent the email.

Mr Harvey continued that at no point during that or any subsequent conversation with Mr Carter or his officials, before the March 7 announcement of Mr Carter's decision, "was it suggested or indicated to me he had made a decision ... "

An adviser in Mr Carter's office, Michael Gibbs, had called Mr Harvey on March 1 and "we discussed the desirability of there being a more balanced set of views on the issue in the public domain", Mr Harvey said.

In relation to a subsequent email to Mr Smythe on the lobbying, Mr Harvey claimed: "If I had known that Mr Carter had decided to decline the marina it would not have been necessary to take the matter any further."

But just a paragraph later Mr Harvey gives a contradictory argument as he tries to suggest he went too far in the emails: "In my enthusiasm to motivate Mr Symthe and his colleagues I may have given them the optimistic impression that they would be pleased with Mr Carter's decision.

"Also I may have been a little "loose" in the wording of my email to Mr Symthe in particular ... as is often the case, the email was written informally and without expectation that it would be subject to intense scrutiny.

"In my email the reference to "him" was in fact referring in a generic sense to Mr Carter's office rather than the minister personally."

He does not then explain why he told Mr Smythe the "him" had asked him [Mr Harvey] to rally people to support "him".

Mr Carter has declined comment on the issue as it is before the courts.

In Parliament on March 15 the minister said his "office and I were besieged with inquiries ... a conversation was had with Bob Harvey" on March 1. He did not volunteer the information that Mr Gibbs rang Mr Harvey, but said all callers were told no decision had been made.