In the emails, Clibbery variously calls Robertson a racist, selfish, arrogant, “complete prick”, and “consummate taker who gives nothing back”.
It came after Robertson, who is behind Ocean Ridge, a $200 million property development on the outskirts of the South Island tourist town, lodged a plan change application with the Kaikōura District Council to add 150 homes and increase the size of the supporting town centre from 2ha to 5ha.
Garry Robertson is behind the Ocean Ridge development in Kaikōura. Photo / Kurt Bayer
Robertson, through his company, Cargill Station Ltd, has, according to the statement of claim, assisted the local council on a $7.8m grant from Kāinga Ora’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF) to upgrade roads, cycleways, infrastructure and an additional route in the South Island tourist town.
The release of funding is dependent on the plan change proceeding and 66-year-old Robertson – who has helped mastermind some of Auckland’s most substantial new housing developments, including Pokeno, Milldale, Millwater, Silverdale, Flat Bush, Karaka, Tuakau and Drury – contributing approximately $8m of his own money to district council infrastructure.
“The plaintiff [Robertson] has, for the last decade, had regular dealings and a positive working relationship with the KDC [Kaikoura District Council] in relation to the developments and other matters,” the court action says.
“It is vital to the business interests of the plaintiff, his principals and the developments that the plaintiff maintains a productive relationship with the mayor, councillors and employees of the KDC and that his reputation is not diminished.”
Businessman Garry Robertson photographed on his farm in Karaka, South Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
On November 1, 2023, Robertson sent an email “as a member of the Kaikōura community” to various council officials and employees, including Clibbery, outlining concerns he had over what he saw as “unacceptable behaviour” at a local drifting track.
Nearly three weeks later, Robertson made a request to the district council under the Official Information Act for all documents containing his personal information.
The tourist town of Kaikōura. Photo / Kurt Bayer
In February 2024, he received the documents, which included two emails from Clibbery’s council account; one dated November 2, 2023, which was sent to the council chief executive, Will Doughty, and another the next day to the mayor, councillors, and Doughty.
“Robertson is a complete prick, and I cannot understand why Council continues to pander to him,” Clibbery writes in the first email.
“He is the consummate taker who gives nothing back, and the community should not expect to ever get any benefit from dealing with him.
“If I was not employed by Council I would be actively advocating to stop my taxpayer money going into this parasite’s pocket via the IAF.”
The Kaikōura District Council has been named in the defamation action as a defendant. Photo / Kurt Bayer
In the next email the following day, Clibbery goes further, which the statement of claim says are “defamatory and untrue statements”.
“In my view, he is prime example of what extreme wealth can turn a person into; arrogant, entitled, self-righteous, selfish, racist, hypocritical, over-confident in their abilities and to a significant degree detached from normal society, but either unable or unwilling to recognise this.”
Clibbery’s claims that Robertson is a “consummate taker” whose objective is to “drive Kaikōura property prices higher without any regard for the broader social consequences”, are defamatory, the court action alleges.
“I truly believe that Mr Robertson is a blight to this community, who we would be best without,” Clibbery ends his email with.
Robertson says that the “defamatory meaning of this statement is that he poisons, spoils, and has a severely detrimental effect on the Kaikōura community”.
The Ocean Ridge development in Kaikōura. Photo / Supplied
The land aggregator says he has only ever met with Clibbery once, “in about 2019 for about five minutes” before a council group meeting.
He claims that the defendants have acted in “flagrant disregard” of his rights and with “malicious intent”.
The statement of claim says Robertson seeks an order for ordinary damages of $1m against both the council and Clibbery “to be further quantified at trial”, and a further $250,000 each for punitive damages.
When approached by the Herald, Robertson declined to comment.
Doughty confirmed that the district council received a copy of defamation proceedings yesterday and “will be seeking legal advice”.
“No further comment at this stage,” he said.
Clibbery also declined to comment.
Kurt Bayer is NZ Herald South Island Head of News based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.