Transcript
ANDREW MINOGUE: We are seeking damages for the losses that we, as the Games Council, have suffered as a result of that unilateral decision with no consultation from the government at the time and TASANOC is seeking the same. So in our case, the Games Council, there are three parts of the damages. The first is unpaid fees that were due to us over that four year period, that were owing to us that we obviously now won't receive from Tonga; the cost of finding an alternative host, which was a process that we were forced to go through in the second part of last year. Traveling around to the various locations, putting documents together and so forth, were costs we didn't expect to have to face and also supporting the new host who has to now organise the Games at very short notice. And the third component to the damages is simply the brand damage. The brand damage in the market place with commercial sponsors and partners, seeing that we have had a Games had to be moved in this way with no real consultation and cooperation about it. That is actually a real cost to us in the long term and our brand. So they are the parts of the claim. Tonga's TASANOC has got some separate claims that have been lodged as part of the joint action.
KORO VAKA'UTA: We see on social media, and we know how reliable social media is, but reports of these damages totalling up to around eight million pa'anga [$US3.5m], is that kind of the ball park figure that we are looking at here?
AM: I think that is a little bit on the high side from the Games Council's perspective it would be less than that but I guess TASANOC's part of the claim, if you add that in to ours, that could be a ball park figure, but I can't comment on the actual specific number as such. Our claim has been lodged in US dollars because that's the currency that we deal with in the Pacific Games across the region but I guess adding the two parties claims together it would be in that region.
KV: So are you able to say how much?
AM: I would prefer not to, I would prefer not to actually specify the exact amount but just for your listeners to understand the nature of the claim and the losses that have been suffered which is those three segments that I outlined earlier. I think it's important for people to understand it's a costly business.
KV: Is it a pity that it got to this stage and now this legal action?
AM: Yeah absolutely. I mean, we said at the time that this all happened last May that we wanted an opportunity to sit down with the government and work through whatever cost or financial issues they might of had. As the owners of the event we have got the ability to scale it down, reduce the size of it, possibly cutting some sports or limiting the entries by athletes. [There] are all sort of methods we could have employed to keep the costs down and to keep the Games in Tonga where they should have been. So it was disappointing that we couldn't go through that process with the government. We were prepared to do it and it left really with no alternative to (a) find another host and (b) I think send a very clear statement to them and to future host countries that you just can't this sort of unilateral action.
KV: And ironically it could end up costing them more than hosting.
AM: I don't know. I mean the cost of hosting the Games would have been quite a bit more than that eight million you were talking about earlier but I think it's cost the country in terms of its reputation and the damage to its brand as a reliable partner for other events and the things that they may wish to do in the future so I think it has been a very costly exercise for everybody.
