Avery 'exhausted and tired' after LifePod Appeal concert called off by Eden Park

Thursday, 26 July 2018

Sir Ray Avery hoped to raise $4 million for incubators. Published July 2018.

Eden Park has officially pulled the plug on a concert fundraiser for Sir Ray Avery's LifePods.

Eden Park Trust said time pressures and the prospect of a costly Environment Court case had forced it to withdraw its application for the concert to go ahead.

Speaking to Stuff, Sir Ray Avery said he was 'exhausted and tired' from the fight.

'I need to apologise to my wife who's been waking up crying, because of the personal attacks.'

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The concert was set to raise money to pay for Ray Avery-invented incubators for premature babies in developing countries.

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'I was naive about the power of the people who opposed this thing.'

He also apologised to Eden Park CEO Nick Sautner for convincing the trust to back the LifePod appeal.

Avery said he told the trust 'no one's going to stop us putting on a concert to save a million babies' lives'.

Lawyers Meredith Connell had told the trust the court hearing would cost $750,000 on top of legal costs.

In a statement, the trust said Auckland's Unitary plan allowed for six concerts a year at the park.

'It has become clear that it is impossible to practically give effect in a timely or affordable manner to these Unitary Plan provisions.'

Those costs would likely have exceeded $1m, the trust said.

The dropping of the concert plan was welcomed by Mark Donnelly of Eden Park Neighbours' Association, which had objected to the event.

'We're relieved that we are not going to have to go through this in the Environment Court process,' he said.

'This is the sixth failed attempt to get concerts at Eden Park, and it's just not a suitable venue.'

'Auckland is well catered for for concerts, it's not missing out,' he said.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said he was supportive of the event and 'hope that it can be rescheduled at an appropriate time and place'.

Eden Park Trust would have needed to pay the cost of the entire hearing, including consultants fees and advisors.

Former prime minister Helen Clark strongly opposed the concert.

In a statement, it said: 'The trust hoped it could work with the minority who objected to reach an agreement for this one-off worthy event.

'This would have avoided the Environment Court process but unfortunately that was not to be the case.'

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who lives three blocks away from the stadium, strongly opposed Eden Park Trust's application and questioned the motives of both Avery and the trust.

'It is about Eden Park, he [Avery] in my opinion is being used by Eden Park to set a precedent for a concert, and once you set a precedent who knows where it will go,' she told Stuff on July 5.

On Wednesday, Clark tweeted questions around how and where funds raised at the concert would be used.

For his part, Avery called Clark's comments on the concert a 'fall from grace'.

So what is #EdenPark charity concert seeking funds for public for? Engineer who worked on project says $$ are more likely to be going into product development in order to try to make an incubator that works. Hello! #Transparency please. https://t.co/PXXN5bI3RQ

— Helen Clark (@HelenClarkNZ) July 25, 2018

The concert was set to take place on Waitangi Day 2019.

Avery hoped the event, which would have included a telethon, would have raised $4 million to produce 2000 LifePods.

LifePods, an invention of Avery's, are a bubble-shaped incubator designed to provide care for premature babies, and can produced at a fraction of the price of alternatives.

Eden Park Trust had encouraged supporters of the event to send in submissions and tweet using the hashtag #SayYes to show they backed it.

Three-quarters of those who took part in a consultation supported the concert and a UMR Research poll showed 91 per cent of Aucklanders supported it being held at Eden Park.

But the trust's attempts to create momentum behind their campaign hit a snag after a flurry of reporting which saw both Avery and Eden Park Chief Executive Nick Sautner come under scrutiny.

Details of an Australian Federal court case surfaced where harsh comments were made about Sautner's conduct in his previous role at Melbourne Stadiums.

There it was claimed he used tickets to major events as 'currency'.

Questions were also raised around the progress of Avery's yet-to-be produced LifePod incubator.

Asked by Stuff if he thought opponents of the concert being staged at Eden Park were behind the stories, Avery said 'the timing seems really odd', adding exchanges in the media had turned 'more personal' than he expected.