Trustees disappointed by misinformation on community Facebook page
On Sunday 24 August a post was published (subsequently taken down on Monday 25 August) on the Tamaki Residents Association Facebook page by its moderator Brian McDonald, making false and damaging claims of conflicts of interest related to previous community grants made during 2024 and 2025 by the Lion Foundation via funds raised through gaming.
These claims are factually incorrect, misleading, and personally damaging to the current Trustees of MWLT. It is disappointing that Mr McDonald, who is himself standing for election to the Trust, has chosen to use his community Facebook page to make such false claims.
In particular, Mr McDonald falsely claimed:
Claim: Two grants were made to community organisations outside the Trust area
Fact: these grants were focused on activities delivered by those organisations within the Trust area, benefitting local residents
Claim: A school where a Trustee is an employee received a grant, at the expense of other schools
Fact: this potential conflict of interest was appropriately documented (and is noted on the Lion Foundation website) and the Trustee in question took no part in the decision-making process. Many local schools received grants from the Lion Foundation, for different purposes determined by the schools.
Claim: A church in the area received a grant, and two of the Trustees were members of this church
Fact: this is factually incorrect, the two Trustees named are not members of this church.
Claim: A yacht club outside the area received funding, while the local club did not.
Fact: a grant was made to the Akarana Marine Sports Charitable Trust (a regional water safety education entity) for delivery of programmes to schools within the MWLT area. The local club has also been supported by Lion Foundation.
It is important to note all grant decisions are made by the Lion Foundation, advised by the MWLT grants committee. Grants made via gaming proceeds are highly regulated, and appropriate measures are in place to manage any potential conflicts of interest. Full records of grants approved and declined, and where conflicts of interest have been avoided (including those mentioned in the post) are documented by Lion Foundation at lionfoundation.nz
While public scrutiny of decision making is part of the job for elected officials and to be expected, it is disappointing when this crosses the line into false and damaging accusations of conflicts of interest.
The current trustees of MWLT represent a wide range of political and community interests. Regardless of the outcome of the local body elections, the conversion of the MWLT into a Community Trust and the investment of the proceeds from last years sales of the Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre and the Panmure Hotel into higher returning and less risky assets means more money being granted to the community than before.
In an environment where week on week more hospitality businesses continue to close and the hotel industry reports declining occupancy rates and mounting losses, greater amounts of money being returned to the community should be seen as good news by everyone, regardless of political persuasion.
This will leave a legacy for future Trustees to administer that benefits more community members than was possible under the Licensing Trust model, and MWLT is looking forward in the coming weeks to presenting the exciting work done to date to bring this exciting new initiative for our community to life.
Updates will be published at mwlt.org.nz