01 October 2025
Official information request 8140017079
(Please quote this in any correspondence)
Mohan Dutta
By email
: [FYI request #32214 email] Tēnā koe Mohan
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA)
RE: Funding Of Diwali Festival
Thank you for your official information request which we received on 3 September 2025 for
information about the funding of BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival. The specific details of your
request and our response is below:
The festival is an Auckland Council Event, delivered by a council-controlled organisation
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (TAU), the region’s cultural, events and destination agency.
The specific details of your request and our response is below.
1.
Kindly supply how much funding has been awarded to the Diwali event between
2017 and 2025.
The total amount of TAU funding for the Diwali festival period FY2018 to FY2025 is
$1,834,634.06 (excl GST).
2.
Kindly supply the details of how the Diwali event is designed, run and managed.
Kindly supply the minutes of the meetings to discuss the Diwali event between
2017 and 2025,
The following provides a high-level overview of the event.
• The BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival is an Auckland Council Event, delivered by
TAU.
• First launched in 2002 as a one-day event which got about 1000 attendees
and has grown to one of the biggest cultural events on the Auckland
calendar, attracting around 65,000 festivalgoers in 2024.
• As New Zealand’s premier Indian cultural festival, the event showcases the
best of Indian music and dance performances, yoga workshops, along with a
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
variety of authentic Indian cuisine, unique handicrafts and vibrant Indian
fashion and jewellery.
• The two-day festival held at the Aotea Square and Queen Street, also
highlights traditional and contemporary Indian culture, Auckland’s Indian
diaspora stories and communities.
• From midday to 9.00pm on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 October, the festival
involves over 1000 performers across three stages, food and beverage
offerings, cultural and retail stalls, and a fireworks finale on the last night.
• The event gives Auckland Indian businesses, organisations, and individuals
the chance to showcase their food, crafts, and performances.
• The naming rights partnership with BNZ is an example of how TAU on behalf
of Auckland Council is working with the private sector to reduce the reliance
on ratepayer funding, while still delivering world-class cultural experiences
that make Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland a great place to live, and visit.
• The festival comprises of three action-packed performance zones: The Aotea
Stage, The BNZ Street Zone, and The Queen Street Stage, all of which will
offer an incredible line-up of vibrant and diverse performances throughout
the day.
• The BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival is free, family-friendly, smoke-free,
alcohol-free and vegetarian.
Further information is outlined below on the role of the Diwali Advisory Group’s input to the
festival.
Please note minutes are not taken at meetings for the event management. Therefore, under
LGOIMA s17(e) – the document alleged to contain the information requested does not exist.
3.
Is there a community advisory group that guides the council on the event? Who
sits on the community advisory group? What organizations are represented on
the community advisory group? How is the composition of the advisory group
decided?
The Diwali Advisory Group is an advisory body, not a decision-making body. Its focus is to
support and advise on the Auckland Diwali Festival’s future vision and development.
The composition of the group is representatives from a range of Auckland’s Indian
communities.
The members are:
• Ella Kumar
• Vinod Kumar
• Champa Patel
• Hansaben Naran
• Robert Khan
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
• Nilima Venkat
• Rakesh Barot
• Ranjna Patel
• Prakash Birada
• Naveen Prakash
• Roopa Sachedev
• Sandeep Singh
4.
Has the Council received complaints about caste discrimination and racism
around the Diwali event?
To TAU’s knowledge, there have been no complaints received regarding caste
discrimination and racism.
5.
What are the restrictions related to food trucks for the Diwali event? How are
these restrictions decided?
The Auckland Diwali Festival has been a vegetarian festival since its inception in 2002. It
was founded by the Asia New Zealand Foundation working in partnership with the Auckland
Indian Association Inc (AIAI) acknowledging the AIAI had held earlier Diwali celebrations,
later supported and co-delivered by the Auckland City Council, and is now delivered by
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited on behalf of the council, for the benefit of all Aucklanders,
including Indian and Indian diaspora Aucklanders of all backgrounds.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited seeks to be inclusive, with guidance from our Auckland Diwali
Festival Advisory Group. This group, formed between September 2015 and February 2016.
In 2017, the vegetarian directive to stallholders was extended to also exclude eggs as an
ingredient. That followed a stallholder query in 2016 challenging the inclusion of eggs as
inconsistent with both Hindu vegetarian practice and the Wellington Diwali Festival. Our
festival production team discussed this with the festival advisory group and the producers
of the Wellington Diwali Festival. The majority of the advisory group agreed the Auckland
festival would no longer include eggs on the menu at the festival, which went into effect in
2017.
6.
Has the Council received feedback about the discriminatory nature of these
restrictions? How does it respond to such feedback or complaints? If there have
been complaints raised, how has the Council addressed them?
To TAU’s knowledge we have not received specific feedback about the nature of these
restrictions.
However, TAU has received a query about the BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival having solely
vegetarian food options and a couple of stall holders have provided feedback on the
restrictions. The query was addressed on information as outlined above in question 5.
TAU’s stall holder team employs a robust application and communications process with a
25 per cent change of stallholders each year to ensure fairness and equity.
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101

7.
What is the Council's position on funding other religious events from the South
Asian communities?
Auckland Council does not hold a position on funding of other religious events from South
Asian community. However community groups can apply for funding for events under
Regional Events Fund Grants Programme, for further information please s
ee here. The decision by Auckland Council to release the information contained in this response was
made by
Annie Dundas, Director Destination, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.
You have the right to complain to the Ombudsman if you believe we have not responded
appropriately to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you have any questions, please contact us on 09 301 0101 or at –
[email address]
Ngā mihi
Molly Janes Te Hoa Kaipakihi Pārongo Matatapu, Ōkawa hoki |
Privacy and Official Information Business Partner
Te Wheako ā-Kirihoko me ngā Ratonga Matihiko | Customer Experience & Digital Services
Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland Council
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101