Lyttelton’s port closed operations to have a staff party – but won’t reveal the cost
Ratepayers should be told the cost of Lyttelton Port Company’s end-of-year party, former Christchurch mayoral candidate John Minto says.
However, the political activist, who stood for mayor to ensure the city council keeps assets such as the port, is careful to say all the company’s shares need to stay in public hands so ratepayers continue to benefit.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger – who last year supported the council heading down the path of selling off some city assets, despite pre-election promises not to “sell the family silver” – refused to comment yesterday.
READ MORE: * Christchurch sleepwalks towards partial asset sales * John Minto: Why I’m not standing
On a Saturday night in November last year, the port company – which is 100 percent owned by the city council, through Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL) – took the historic decision to suspend operations for a night so staff and partners could attend an end-of-year celebration at one of the city’s biggest and costliest venues, the Te Pae convention centre.
The port was celebrating strong financial results.
In September last year, chief executive Kirstie Gardener announced the company made a full-year, after-tax net profit of $18.9 million, with a $10m dividend paid to CCHL. (At the half-year update in March, profit was $12.1m, slightly down on the previous year, with an interim dividend of $6.6m.)
More than 500 people, including the company’s executive team and a board member, attended the November 19 party at Te Pae.
The genesis of the event was lawyer Maria Dew’s scathing review of workplace culture, released in 2020, which found evidence of widespread bullying at the port, with undercurrents of racism, sexism and homophobia. Safety and mental health concerns were also raised.
After Dew’s report, the port company developed a workplace culture action plan. One of Dew’s recommendations was to “bring back an ‘all of LPC’ social function for all employees, which employees valued for its sense of ‘one team’”.
In a post about the event on the port company’s website, Gardener said: “The LPC team is dedicated to port operations and keeping operations moving 24/7 doesn’t come without sacrifice. It was special to acknowledge that and to have our team’s partners there to celebrate too.”
Newsroom asked the company to provide details of the party, including the total cost, broken down into categories, such as venue hire, transport, catering, and alcohol. We also asked for a justification of the expense, considering the council has been tasked with getting greater returns from council-held companies.
“Our staff work in a 24/7 operational environment, spread over several divisions across the Canterbury region,” LPC’s chief people and culture officer Lesley Fleming said.
“There was tremendous positive feedback received from staff who attended the event.”
Two awards were presented: foreman stevedore Steve Thompson was the values award winner; and permit office manager Sam Hart received the safety leadership award.
Asked for a second time to provide the total cost and breakdown, the response from Lyttelton Port Company’s communications email said: “Thank you for your email, we have nothing further to add.”
The company is not subject to official information laws.
“It was effectively paid for by Christchurch ratepayers.” – political activist John Minto
John Minto, the two-time Christchurch mayoral candidate who became nationally prominent during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour, said the public wouldn’t begrudge the port company shouting staff – with the emphasis on “those who actually get their hands dirty” as opposed to people on “huge, inappropriate salaries at senior management level”.
The port company should release the cost of the staff party, he said.
“It was effectively paid for by Christchurch ratepayers. We have a right to know – as simple as that.”
Christchurch City Holdings chair Abby Foote says: “This is an operational decision for LPC. CCHL supports the investment LPC are making in improving organisational culture along with the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff. We have no further comment to make on this matter.”
Banks Peninsula ward councillor Tyrone Fields said whether the company disclosed the cost was an operational matter. “I’m very happy that a company within the council family is working hard on supporting the wellbeing of its workers.”
Professor Karin Lasthuizen, who holds the Brian Picot Chair in Ethical Leadership at Victoria University of Wellington, said it reflected poorly on the ethical reputation of a ratepayer-owned company to have an expensive party during a cost of living crisis.
“It’s really about upholding ethical values in the workplace and prioritising them in all the operations of the company.”
Victor Billot, a Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) spokesperson and Newsroom contributor, said the party was a one-off type of event recognising the sacrifices made during the long and difficult Covid-19 period, “where they continued to work in difficult and demanding circumstances including potential health risks”.
“On the question of transparency, the MUNZ view is that ports should be transparent around financial matters. This should apply to both public and private entities.”
Billot said the cost of Christmas parties would be insignificant if the port was sold off.
“The loss of income plus other effects such as lack of local control and potential cost hikes by a private monopoly port owner should be of great concern to all ratepayers and people of Christchurch and Canterbury.
The port company has suffered turmoil at the top this year.
Chief executive Gardener resigned suddenly in April, followed soon after by board chair Margaret Devlin and director Don Elder. The ructions occurred after criticism by consultant company Propero, which identified governance problems.
Newsroom asked CCHL for a copy of Propero’s report but was told no report was produced and the firm only provided a verbal briefing to the CCHL board on April 24. CCHL refused to provide the cost of Propero’s work, saying it was commercially sensitive.
In May, CCHL announced it had appointed consultants KPMG and Mafic to provide specialist advice as it considered a more active approach to managing its assets.
Other assets in the holding company’s portfolio include Christchurch Airport, electricity lines company Orion Group, and fibre broadband company Enable, and maintenance, property, and facility management company CityCare.
