'Stand down,' John Tamihere tells Panuku developer

Monday, 9 September 2019

Building company Stanley Group has been liquidated.

Political fallout from the collapse of the Stanley construction group has begun with Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere calling for Martin Udale to 'stand down immediately' from his role as a director of Auckland Council-owned Panuku Development.

Ten companies associated with Waikato-based Stanley Group and Auckland's Tallwood were liquidated on September 5 after a shareholder vote leaving sub-contractors on its projects, including some for Housing New Zealand (HNZ) in Auckland, Hamilton and Whakātane, facing losses that could add up to around $5 million.

Numerous subbies, including plumbers, sparkies and labour hire companies, who say they are individually owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, have spoken to Stuff about their fury at the collapse, and how they have not been paid for several months.

Udale is a director of Tallwood, and Tamihere believed he should no longer be on the board of Panuku, which is council-controlled organisation tasked with urban regeneration.

**READ MORE:

Auckland mayoral candidate calls on Martin Udale to resign from Panuku Development.

* 'Good riddance to them': Angry Stanley Group creditors vow to fight for what they're owed

* Construction companies Tallwood, Stanley Group in liquidation

* Ebert contractors get some retention money after collapse, but not full amount

* One third of companies not complying with sub-contractor retention laws

* The Ebert subcontractors left out of retentions fund**

Work on the Cessna Place Housing New Zealand development has stopped after the liquidation of Stanley Group companies.

Auckland Council spokeswoman Joanna Glasswell said Udale's future at Panuku was under discussion.

'The Panuku chair is in discussion with Mr Udale about the voluntary liquidation of Tallwoods on any impact on his role as a director at Panuku,' she said.

Udale was also a director on the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC), which co-owned by Auckland Council and the Crown.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Megan Woods is one of the shareholding ministers, and has been asked approached for comment on whether she still has confidence in Udale to continue on the TRC board.

Udale's biography on the Panuku website had not been updated to include the Stanley Group liquidation.

But as yet another construction company collapse highlights the extreme risks being run by subbies, changes are being championed to protect them from the unfair risks they face at the bottom of the construction foodchain.

Subcontractors of Stanley Group say the Government, and its agencies like HNZ, have a moral duty to look at how it is possible for them to face losses they could not protect themselves from on HNZ projects, losses which impact their mental health, relationships and could, in some cases, cost them their homes and businesses.

Karl McGhee, whose Wall2Wall is owed around $250,000, said: 'Do you think it's fair that my 8 and 5 year-olds need to be asking their mother/my wife, is Dad okay?'

Tamihere said it was unacceptable that subbies were once again faced with losses and heartache.

'They are the ones who suffer most and are then ones who can least afford it when a major developer goes into liquidation,' he said.

'They lose their houses. They lose their relationships. The big guy never does.'

'When I am given the mandate by the people of Auckland, I will also be championing a new piece of legislation that will protect sub contractors,' Tamihere said, who believes the Auckland mayor should champion law changes as the representative of a fourth of the country's population, and its only globally significant city.