Wiri Licensing Trust provides important funding to community organisations. Despite being a community asset with a multimillion dollar portfolio, only one set of audited accounts has been produced in the last seven years.
Alan Johnson, former chair of the trust for 20 years, went on the record in 2025. "After 54 years of existence the Wiri Licensing Trust is starting to sell some of its land. In the 33 years I was on the trust we only ever bought assets. Now the trust, under the leadership of the Manurewa Action Team, are selling off assets."
"Why are they selling land?" Johnson says, "We can only guess because the last set of audit accounts produced was five years ago. That is, the trust hasn't had a set of accounts for the public to look at in five years."
Ken Penney, former trustee 2010–2019, says, "When Alan [Johnson] and I left the trust in 2019 the accounts were up to date. It was how we operated. The delays started when Brian Blake was elected as Chair, placed there by Daniel Newman and the Manurewa Action Team."
Former trustee, Joseph Allan, 2022–2025, opposed the land sale but could not comment on the financial situation which remains confidential.
He says, "I was not at all happy where the priorities sat during my time on the trust. Obviously, I cannot talk about the details of what happened in meetings, but suffice to say it was a challenge being in the minority."
"The community deserves greater transparency and accountability," he states.
Brian Blake was appointed Chair in 2019 and Daniel Newman was appointed Deputy Chair in early 2022. Under the Blake/Newman leadership the Wiri Licensing Trust has produced just one set of audited accounts — for the year ended 31 March 2020 (produced in 2024).
The Trust says the delay was caused by constraints at the Office of the Auditor-General, particularly during Covid-19. That may have been true at the time, but years on other licensing trusts have caught up and continue to publish current financial information.
Birkenhead, Portage, Waitākere, Mount Wellington
The other four licensing trusts in Auckland have accounts available for 2025 and, in some cases, 2026.
Section 334 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 requires licensing trust members to ensure financial statements are prepared within five months of the end of each financial year. The accounts must be audited by the Auditor-General and publicly notified. Crucially, the Act says that if members fail to comply, each member commits an offence.
That makes the prolonged absence of audited accounts a serious governance issue — particularly for a community-owned organisation managing community assets.
This is not the first organisation associated with Blake to have a history of reporting failures.
Blake became CEO of the Manurewa Community Facilities Charitable Trust in August 2017. A year later the organisation was removed from the Charities Register under section 32(1)(b) of the Charities Act because it failed to file Annual Returns as required by section 41 of the Charities Act. It was subsequently re-registered in 2019.
On 13 September 2025, Blake wrote, "As soon as possible we will release all audited accounts. We are hopeful these will be complete before Christmas for all years." A year on, another Christmas is coming and the community waits.
The Trust's Facebook page in the leadup to the 2025 elections regularly featured Action candidates who were not trustees. Kelvin Hieatt (Papakura), Brian Blake (Chair), Kim Green (General Manager), Marshal Ahluwalia (Manurewa).Most of the money granted to community organisations by Wiri Licensing Trust comes from gaming-machine proceeds redistributed through Trillian Trust.
The Wiri Licensing Trust makes recommendations to the Trillian Trust on where that money should go. But questions have been raised about whether applications from candidates associated with the Manurewa Action Team have received favourable treatment.
This is not the first time the Blake/Newman leadership has been in the spotlight. In 2022 Stuff reported that Nick Smale described the decision to promote the Manurewa Action Team ticket in social media posts as unethical.
Penney agrees, "There were far more Action Team candidates on the Wiri Trust Facebook page and many were not trustees. They promote themselves and make the community sit in the dark, waiting for the accounts."
After almost seven years, only one set of audited accounts has been produced. For the first time in the 54-year history of the trust, land has been sold. The transparency and independence of funding recommendations under the Blake/Newman leadership is being questioned.
Johnson concludes, "it's pretty easy for the Wiri Licensing Trust Trustees to publish interim unaudited accounts so that the residents of Manurewa, as the Trust's owners, can see how the Trust is being run. Why haven't they?"
Reference
2022 Stuff Stephen Forbes reported "[the] licensing trust’s decision to help promote candidates in this year’s local body elections was ill-advised, but not illegal, according to Auckland electoral officer Dale Ofsoske."
2025 Funding Surge Analysis shows multiple connections between trustees of the Wiri Licensing Trust and grant recipients affiliated with the Manurewa Action Team.