By CATHERINE MASTERS
The future of Auckland's rescue helicopter service and its sister organisation, ChildFlight, depends on a court ruling that threatens to block one of their main sources of funding.
Bad publicity from a Serious Fraud Office investigation has already cost the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust at least $2 million and is forcing it to abandon its strategic waterfront home next to the police Eagle helicopter base.
It will move to a hangar at Auckland Airport within weeks.
A restructuring and cost-cutting exercise will also include job losses.
The trusts have been brought "just about to our knees", says interim chief executive Rea Wikaira.
But the greatest threat to the service lies with a judgment in the High Court at Auckland expected next month. It will determine whether the Department of Internal Affairs can withdraw the gaming licences of five Auckland pubs that are now owned by a subsidiary of the trust.
More than $4 million a year from slot machines in the pubs would be lost to both trusts.
Even with the restructuring, both bodies could fold depending on the case outcome, said Mr Wikaira.
The rescue helicopter has taken off from Mechanics Bay for 33 years, flying to countless boats in trouble, road accidents and hard-to-reach medical emergencies.
The helicopter service, known by its main sponsor as the Westpac rescue helicopter, will move to Auckland Airport to share a hangar with the fixed-wing aeroplanes used by ChildFlight to ferry seriously ill children throughout the country.
The SFO investigation, which began 16 months ago, has resulted in a high-profile court case against four former trust executives - including one of its founders, Malcolm Beattie - who are now charged with defrauding it.
The case revolves around the alleged misdirection of donated poker machine takings back to a group of Auckland pubs.
In the Auckland District Court yesterday, Beattie, Wayne Porter, Peter Pharo and Tom Romley were remanded without plea for six weeks.
Mr Wikaira said bad publicity had cost a conservative $2 million in lost revenue, donations and legal bills.
"And when I say conservatively, we haven't factored in there the loss of productivity.
"I mean, when a staff member comes in and does a great rescue or does a great job and someone throws rubbish in their face about being crooks and that, how do you feel?
"There's lost productivity. It's difficult to measure in dollar terms, but it's there."
The restructuring is also designed to reduce the reliance of the trusts on donations from gaming proceeds - but Mr Wikaira is adamant the move will not mean fewer flights.
"We are not compromising the service at all. That was a clear objective we put in there - that our services would not be compromised as a result of the reorganisation."
The helicopter and ChildFlight will be under one roof at the airport so they can share resources, equipment and personnel.
They expect to save about $2 million this year and next year. Westpac, which has supported the air rescue service for 18 years, is standing by it despite the bad publicity.
"Westpac is proud to sponsor such a critical service, which has saved more than 10,000 lives over its 30 years of operation," said spokesman Paul Gregory.
"We only need to see the Herald's account this week of the man in Morrinsville who got run over by the tractor being rescued by the helicopter to get further evidence of why we're proud."
But Sergeant Brian Pilkington, in charge of the Eagle helicopter based next door, fears the trust's move will hurt the police operation.
"It's going to affect us in that we operate very closely with coastguard and the police maritime unit and these guys.
"So if there's a search at sea we take off first because we're the quickest to get mobile, and we call Westpac to come and do the specialist side of it, like the winching.
"We're a specialist search vessel but they've got the paramedics and all the expertise. That's going to make a big change."
Losing the Westpac team as "buddies" would also hurt.
"We're all in the same business of saving lives and stuff ...
"It will be a sad day to see them go."
500 RESCUES EACH YEAR
The helicopter trust flew 231 rescue missions in the first six months of this year. Each year it carries out an average of 500 jobs.
A week's missions:
JULY 6: A 77-year-old woman suffering from abdominal pain was flown from Wellsford to Auckland Hospital.
JULY 5: A premature baby was transported from Whangarei Hospital to National Women's.
JULY 2: The helicopter flew an 11-year-old girl with renal troubles from Waikato Hospital to Auckland's Starship.
JULY 1: The helicopter flew to Waiheke island to transport an elderly man to Greenlane for treatment.
JUNE 29: A 6-year-old girl suffering from suspected meningitis was transported from Wellsford to the Starship.
* Email Catherine Masters
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