0:01

I'm Sharon, Brick Kelly and down

0:04

the detail. I'm at full capacity

0:06

field on Mount Group hey who

0:08

and it is a spectacular day.

0:11

I'm no cloud, a dusting of

0:13

snow up on the highest peaks

0:15

and know when and and these

0:18

a a steady trickle of tourists

0:20

coming up here buying the tickets

0:22

to go on the gondola, someone

0:25

just out for a walk hdds

0:27

a cyclist hitting of down the

0:29

mountain. But that's. Not

0:31

speak take killer about this mountain

0:34

is the uncertain future of the

0:36

ski field here, and of course

0:39

the uncertain future of the shit.

0:41

How the historic hotel that's been

0:43

shut for over a year now

0:46

at the foot of the mountain?

0:48

Disappointment. Frustration: A black possibly

0:50

of concentration. It's an impending

0:53

free during your turn. And.

0:55

Some coordinates. But I was there

0:57

was hope. Why? Couple of times

1:00

senior journalist Matthew Mouse and has

1:02

been covering the mountain and its

1:04

trouble since August Twenty twenty two

1:07

when a hundred workers it to

1:09

Roski Field lost their jobs. Later,

1:11

he'll tell us more about the

1:14

impact on the region and newsrooms.

1:16

Business reporter Andrew Bhavan has written

1:18

more than thirty stories on the

1:21

twists and turns of the ski

1:23

fields, the collapse of the operator

1:25

Rupee Who alpine left's the creditors

1:28

owed seventy. Million Dollars, the

1:30

on again, off again buyers,

1:32

and the millions of taxpayer

1:34

dollars to bail it out.

1:36

Yeah, it's It's very complicated. I

1:38

mean, you've got multiple government departments,

1:41

multiple. Ministers. You've

1:43

got the receivers, You've got the liquidators,

1:45

You've got people who pay to build

1:47

the Skywalker gondola on fuck papa, You've

1:49

got the life pass holders and then

1:52

obviously not repo who is is so

1:54

important to so many different the We

1:56

and Copper groups, who who don't need

1:58

to have a say. An

2:01

ancestor not not amount of it is

2:03

very important. What's. The nicest.

2:05

Own ski feels so. The Department

2:07

of Conservation is currently going through

2:09

a process to approve a buyer

2:11

for throw. It operates in the

2:13

tongue rare an issue park and

2:16

so that goes through to our

2:18

will have an owner. But.

2:20

There's no real answer for soccer bother.

2:23

Who's. Running at at the moment.

2:25

So it's being run by receivers

2:28

appointed by. Mb. Com

2:30

and it's regional development on Com. Noah

2:32

was previously being run by Peter B

2:35

C who are liquidators basically appointed by

2:37

the company, but the government's bought some

2:39

debts, mains it for a dollar thirty

2:42

million dollars at it for dollar and

2:44

appointed it's own people to run the

2:46

thing as as as at once. And

2:48

let's read: hat. On how

2:51

it's come to this

2:53

and why it's so

2:55

complicated site. That.

2:57

And what was that? Lights Twenty

2:59

twenty. Tie a rope His who

3:01

alpine less. which was of racing

3:03

fight sock puppet. And Tude all

3:06

ski fields winton to. Voluntary

3:08

administration scare so basically they had

3:10

covered and then you know that

3:13

the down on their luck it's

3:15

been hot keepers number through and

3:17

didn't notice have shocker season. They.

3:19

Don't have the money to keep things going

3:21

and and they call and voluntary administrators who

3:23

sort of come in and I try find

3:26

a path. Forward for the company.

3:28

Those solitary admin side as we came to

3:30

know them quite well especially John says from

3:32

yeah he Says here that they came in

3:35

and I just so many people were just

3:37

so interested that these administrators liquidated or think

3:39

as backroom operate as really are probably can

3:41

be bothered by the media every day out

3:44

a little bit fat excellent So. What

3:46

We See Job. So. John

3:48

Suskind Richard nice to come in and they just. Start.

3:51

running a business basically you know that the

3:53

business to has it's directors and to i'm

3:55

hour at the management stays the same path

3:58

tongue and and rich in a basically In

4:00

charge they're saying, all right, we're going to do

4:02

this this season. We'll allocate this much money to

4:04

that and Basically, we're

4:07

going to try sell the thing find buyers

4:09

for it. Were they successful?

4:11

There were some favored buyers Last

4:15

year the future of skiing

4:17

on Mount Luapehu may have been saved

4:20

This hub can reveal two separate bids

4:22

are now likely to be recommended to

4:24

cabinet We can reveal that MB has

4:26

given the nod to pure touro Faka

4:28

Papa will likely be taken over by

4:30

a private equity firm with links to

4:32

South Island businessman Tom L worthy and

4:34

so there was a vote of creditors to To

4:37

approve those buyers and that failed and

4:40

it failed in quite an interesting way That

4:42

was when you look back

4:44

inevitable because there are 14,000 people who

4:46

bought life passes to the ski field

4:48

And they all got to vote on

4:51

the future. So the numbers were obviously

4:53

just overwhelmingly Suede to

4:55

them but the government had the money and

4:58

so there was this sort of stalemate

5:00

situation where the government's thing didn't pass

5:02

And then the life path holders motion

5:04

didn't pass either because the government vetoed that

5:07

and maybe that makes it sound a little

5:10

bit complicated, but Nothing

5:12

was ever going to happen. What was the next

5:14

step it went into liquidation But

5:17

who help I'm lists will file for

5:19

liquidation today after two options to take

5:21

over management failed to gain enough support

5:24

among creditors at a crucial meeting yesterday

5:26

in The coming days are

5:29

pivotal as the liquidator tries to sell the

5:31

assets of fuck a Papa and to row

5:33

a ski areas to two Separate bidders. Yeah

5:35

went into liquidation, which is a means the

5:37

company is basically Voluntary

5:40

administrators say okay, we're in liquidation We're

5:43

now in a position where we can sort of break it

5:45

up strip it and they just have more

5:47

more control Nothing changed. Basically

5:50

Everything is the same under liquidation

5:52

as voluntary administration. It might have

5:54

a different name, but it seemed

5:56

like the process and the path

5:58

forward was. Actually,

6:00

the side? So who. Are these

6:02

criticisms? Were owed seventy million dollars?

6:05

Yes, You've got. Invaded Ministry

6:07

of Business Innovation and Employments Regional

6:10

Development on Can Our So that's

6:12

owed bout forty two million. So

6:14

that's the original debt, the data

6:16

bought from Nz It and some

6:19

serious birds in loans and for

6:21

a pretty aware of yes and

6:23

the gondola bondholders arrived about fourteen

6:26

million. Then you've got the life

6:28

pass holders you've you've got. People.

6:31

Who work there probably you know the

6:33

a holiday pay trades predators as well

6:35

as soon to that's people who have

6:37

to come in and maintain a maintain

6:39

the mountain. the government as

6:41

as a main criticize just

6:43

last month the government's put

6:46

on more money and same

6:48

time said reason to them

6:50

minister said that set. This

6:53

is the Last Chance Saloon adaptation of

6:55

been advised by the advisors that to

6:57

do is alive deal pertaining to to

7:00

door on the other side fuck a

7:02

proper that's a bit more complicated. We're.

7:05

A we're intensive how much the government has

7:07

put on to us. I think

7:09

we had about twenty million dollars

7:11

Now Ryan really do lose track.

7:13

That's not counting Provincial Growth Sons

7:15

gear, the Provincial Growth Fund invested

7:17

in them, and the gondola projects

7:19

that twenty million dollar figure as.

7:22

Post. Administrators yeah, which

7:24

is I water. With.

7:26

The life pass holders they need to

7:28

put in that case. To. Continue

7:30

to be Life pass. Holders. I think

7:33

so. I think from the expense of free

7:35

ride on the last passes as as about

7:37

over I'm. As it's basically

7:39

a bias as far as approach

7:41

it and those last passes will be

7:44

honored with a little bit of

7:46

a cash injection or in are buying

7:48

basically by an ally one sided

7:50

at a discount. On. Both sides of

7:52

the mountains or a reset not clear. Yet.

7:54

that's not clear i battle we don't

7:57

know anything about what's happening with back

7:59

that other entity they will be if

8:01

they put in a little bit more cash is

8:03

my understanding. We're now coming to

8:06

into winter 2024 because

8:09

we keep hearing stories about it it

8:11

just feels very uncertain.

8:14

Absolutely we know who's gonna buy

8:17

Turoa but even that there's a

8:19

layer of uncertainty right. You're

8:21

talking about the concession for

8:23

pure Turoa but

8:25

I don't understand why the concession is

8:27

such a complicated thing that it's not

8:30

just a matter of it

8:32

being transferred from the previous owners

8:34

to these owners. What

8:36

does it take to get

8:38

this concession? You have to put

8:40

in a pretty lengthy submission to doc

8:44

detailing your plans and how you're gonna

8:46

manage things on the mountain. I mean

8:48

you know we had the diesel leak

8:50

up there that poison rut is water

8:52

supply. Arua Pahu Iwe says a diesel

8:54

leak into a Toharero National Park stream

8:57

that feeds into the Uraitehi Town water

8:59

supply is devastating. The

9:02

Makotuku streams been contaminated by up to

9:04

15,000 litres of diesel

9:06

from a tank at the base of the

9:08

Turoa ski field. These

9:10

things are really really important. This

9:13

is a dual listed UNESCO site

9:16

it's our first national park and

9:18

we just need to be really careful about what

9:22

happens there and who does it and

9:24

I don't think anyone disagrees with

9:27

that. You know you tend to feel

9:29

a little bit for doc because they're kind of the

9:31

meat and a bit of a sandwich here. They have

9:33

been, they have never

9:36

sort of department that's handling these concessions

9:38

but they have by law

9:40

they have to engage with Ewe and

9:43

those other stakeholders. The complication

9:45

around it is because it's in a

9:47

national park you have very different rules

9:49

about how you can run a business

9:51

there. You're basically a concession of the

9:53

long-term lease that we're in license to

9:55

do business. They're sort of dockers

9:57

stuck in a rock in a hard place. negotiating

10:00

to look after

10:02

a national park to make sure

10:05

there's no advers effects upon that

10:07

part but they also

10:09

have to think with a business hat on and

10:12

who's going to be doing the best, who's going to run the

10:14

information on the mountain. Basically who

10:16

they can trust to look after

10:19

the natural beauty of the area.

10:26

Now before I head down the

10:28

mountain to the Chateau, let's recap.

10:31

Pure Touroa looks to be the

10:33

next owner of Touroa's ski field

10:35

if it gets the docked concession.

10:38

No new buyer has been found for

10:41

Fuka Papa, it's still being run by

10:43

the liquidators. Creditors are

10:45

still $70 million

10:47

out of pocket. But

10:49

what about iwi? Under

10:52

the Touroa National Park Plan,

10:54

Iwi need to be thoroughly

10:56

consulted, not tokenistically consulted. And

10:59

they are pretty staunchly saying

11:01

that that hasn't happened.

11:03

And even in some documentation

11:05

there's members of the community

11:08

and just saying I support

11:10

this because Iwi have been rigorously consulted.

11:13

And in Iwi saying no we haven't, you

11:15

can't just have a cup of

11:17

coffee with us a couple of times and

11:19

say that's done. So if the

11:21

ski field process does go any

11:24

further, particularly on the current dock

11:26

concession, there is a lot of

11:28

talk of judicial review, whether that comes

11:30

to anything, I'm not sure what that

11:33

would mean. Getting a judge to review

11:35

the dock's decision.

11:37

Okay. The decision process.

11:39

Why does this fit

11:41

within the Touroa National Park Plan

11:43

and dock consider the right things here?

11:46

And why? Whether

11:49

that happens, whether anything comes of it,

11:51

hard to say. That's sort of a

11:53

very expensive decision for a

11:55

group to make. But how

11:58

well treated have Iwi been? been

12:00

in this whole complicated

12:02

process. They've been

12:04

saying to anyone who listened that they're

12:06

not listening to us. And

12:09

there's the previous

12:11

Minister for Regional Development apologized

12:13

to Father Towa, sent them a letter

12:16

and said, PwC, I

12:18

haven't talked to you and we

12:20

apologize for that. PwC said, well, it's

12:22

not our job to talk.

12:24

We did our bit. It's actually the

12:27

crown's job to run that relationship. So

12:30

it's been a mess. And I

12:33

think there are members of that community who are quite devastated

12:35

about the whole thing. In itself,

12:37

the place of iwi is

12:40

complicated because there are so

12:42

many different hapu, depending on

12:44

which side of the mountain

12:46

you're on. Absolutely. And

12:49

far more fractionalized than that,

12:51

even. And even the

12:53

tributaries that come off the mountain.

12:55

So the Haunganui River, the mountain

12:57

is incredibly important to groups the whole way

12:59

down. And there are active treaty settlements over

13:02

the mountain. So you've really got

13:04

to think the government and crown

13:07

Maori relations groups really

13:11

will be watching this closely. Do

13:13

the different Maori

13:15

groups have different interests,

13:17

i.e. are they not united

13:20

on what they want for the mountain? By

13:23

and large, I think they

13:27

would share a similar vision, which is let's

13:29

do this carefully and make sure we are

13:31

listened to and taken seriously. And

13:34

you've got to think these groups probably weren't in that position

13:36

in the 50s, 60s, 70s.

13:40

There are some groups who are more sort

13:42

of, you know, they're

13:45

not opposed to Piotroa buying

13:48

the operations. Yeah. But

13:50

again, they still want to see it done carefully. They want

13:52

to be reported back to on issues

13:54

such as, you know, contamination

13:56

and air quality. that

14:01

with pure Turoa taking

14:04

over Turoa itself, there

14:07

is an issue, there's a challenge to the name.

14:09

Yeah, the Turoa name comes from

14:12

a famous leader of the area

14:15

whose ancestors still around today hate Turoa.

14:18

He's been very active and vocal in

14:20

this whole process. And perhaps

14:22

it wasn't such a

14:25

big deal when it was a

14:27

not-for-profit or more of a community organisation

14:29

like Repay Rail Planless was. But

14:32

then suddenly you've kind of got private equity

14:34

coming in and buying your name. And I

14:36

can imagine that's maybe quite

14:38

daunting. To Faritoa, at

14:41

one point when they're looking at

14:43

buying Faka Parpa Ski Field? They

14:46

did announce that, the Riki

14:48

announced that, but it got walked

14:50

back pretty quickly. I think they

14:52

engaged some people to have a look at it, some

14:56

consultants and said, this doesn't really make sense.

14:59

Why don't they? I mean, there are some very

15:01

wealthy E-Weeks. I think running

15:03

a ski field is really hard. And

15:05

unless it's a passion project, it's probably

15:08

– these are savvy business operators – it's

15:10

probably better to put your money somewhere else.

15:13

You'll probably get greater social outcomes somewhere else,

15:15

better returns as well. In

15:17

terms of E-Weeks, and Unoa wouldn't like

15:19

to speak out of turn, to

15:21

Faritoa is the major E-Weeks

15:23

around that mountain. And they

15:25

have various hapu, have different

15:27

interests in either body. But

15:30

they all look at it through a pepu

15:32

as an ancestor, as a living person.

15:36

It's often referred to as a

15:38

court of its grandfather. And I

15:41

think that's a really important thing to

15:43

take on from people. Locally,

15:46

we think that this is a living person that

15:48

needs to be treated with respect. And

15:50

that respect needs

15:52

to filter down to the

15:54

living people on the land. I'm

15:58

at the base of the mountain now. looking

16:00

at the Chateau Tongariro and

16:03

it sadly is looking

16:05

pretty shabby. The

16:08

paint is cracking and peeling

16:11

it just looks like it's

16:13

in dire need of a

16:15

serious upgrade but as we know

16:17

from the headlines just in the last I

16:19

don't know week or so there

16:21

are headlines like Chateau Tongariro are

16:24

there plans for this grand old

16:26

dame or not. Grand

16:28

Chateau Tongariro bidders need more certainty

16:30

from the government that's according to

16:33

the mayor of this area western

16:35

curtain. Haunting photos

16:37

emerge of derelict Chateau

16:39

Tongariro and Prime Minister

16:42

Chris Felixon reveals more pressing

16:44

priorities than Chateau Tongariro and

16:46

there's also a recent story

16:48

of a painting in there

16:50

potentially worth hundreds of thousands

16:52

of dollars sitting inside in

16:54

the lounge there and

16:56

it's reportedly drooping, cracking,

16:59

deteriorating kind of a symbol

17:01

of really what's happening to

17:03

this building. The Chateau

17:05

was handed over back to dock on

17:08

March the 9th of 2023 so

17:10

that was you know six months

17:14

after rumblings on ski

17:16

fields occurred and then

17:18

of course the double blow of the

17:20

Chateau being closed just before winter was

17:22

not ideal either. Yes it

17:24

was owned by the government until the

17:27

90s it was actually built

17:29

by Fletcher Construction back in the 20s which is

17:31

nothing you think about it but yeah it was owned

17:34

by the government until the 90s when it was sold

17:36

to a Malaysian corporation that

17:39

just owns all sorts of things

17:41

they own car distribution they own

17:43

palm oil plantations they own property

17:46

they own hospitals and hotels evidently

17:48

they bought the hotel and leased the land

17:51

underneath it that lease has now

17:54

expired they haven't renewed it with dock and

17:56

I think negotiations there are all ongoing I

17:58

mean if I knew what was happening I'd

18:00

have a great story on my hands, but I

18:02

don't. But they've put a lot of money into

18:04

it over the years. I mean, they did it up in the 90s. They

18:07

extended it in the 2000s. And

18:10

then, yeah, seismic issues popped up. Tourism

18:12

got really hard through the pandemic and they were selling

18:15

room nights for dirt cheap. It's

18:17

just not a good place to be. So

18:20

right now, Doc has control after that

18:22

lease expired. If you don't own the

18:24

land, you can't operate the hotel. I

18:26

guess you can't operate the hotel anyway because

18:28

it's falling to pieces. So Andrew, what are

18:31

the options for the Chateau? The

18:33

best option is finding a

18:36

buyer who's willing to take a chance and

18:38

sort of restore it to its former glory, as

18:40

it were. Otherwise, I guess

18:43

the government does it up and then tries

18:45

to attract someone in. But I don't see

18:47

that being a popular option. And

18:50

then the third option is damn,

18:52

the heritage should bowl it over. But

18:54

they're saying they won't do that. When

18:57

the Chateau was closed, we always were

18:59

told there was an earthquake strengthening

19:02

review report that was coming out.

19:05

And once that became public through

19:07

an OIA process as well, we really

19:09

did start to understand how the Chateau

19:11

was in such dire

19:14

need of an upgrade. This

19:16

is not a $3 or $4 million job to

19:19

upgrade the Chateau to current building

19:21

standards and earthquake strengths. And it

19:23

will cost more than $30 million,

19:25

I'm told. So there's a

19:27

lot of money there. Who's going to

19:29

pick up that tan? Is it Doth?

19:31

Is it the former leaseholders? Is

19:34

it the new owners? Who

19:37

knows? Do you want to buy a building that's got

19:39

$30 million worth of problems? That's

19:41

the question. And that is a big

19:43

question. What

19:46

do people want? What do the

19:48

local people want to happen? Well,

19:51

I think it's overwhelming. Local

19:53

people want ski fields. And

19:56

they want the opportunity to run

19:58

that part of the building. that

20:00

you want to see on Faka

20:02

Pape and Tewa. It's

20:05

hugely important for a lot of

20:07

those businesses who haven't pivoted to

20:10

the summertime activities like

20:12

the ski-high places and that

20:14

sort of thing. And they've

20:17

built those businesses around the

20:19

ski fields and it

20:21

is their logic books. Obviously

20:23

they are desperate to

20:26

know, for a start, who's going to be running each

20:29

field, if both fields will be run separately

20:31

or put together. But,

20:34

you know, I think the underlying feeling,

20:37

they really want that those fields

20:40

open and running for

20:43

as long as they can. That's

20:47

it for today. The detail is supported by

20:49

RNZ and NZ On Air. Alexia

20:52

Russell produced this podcast, Phil

20:54

Benj engineered it. Thanks to

20:56

Andrew Bevan and Matthew Martin.

20:59

And we'll leave you with the voices

21:01

of people who come from all over

21:03

to enjoy this slice of Altea Raw.

21:06

This is our first time here. So

21:08

we were eager to come over to Mount

21:10

Ruapeu for a long time now. So just

21:13

wanted to have a feel of it. So

21:15

yeah, just trying to come over and look at the

21:18

controller rides and all. Where have

21:20

you come from? We are from Wellington. Ah,

21:23

and what do you think of it? No, it's just

21:25

beautiful. It's amazing. It's great. So

21:28

you've been coming here for how long? Since

21:31

I was 12 years old and I'm now 60. How

21:34

do you feel about the uncertainty of things?

21:36

You know, the uncertain future of the ski

21:38

fields, but also the fact that the Chateau,

21:41

we don't know what's going to happen to that. Well, it's

21:43

an end of an era if it does

21:45

happen. And that's always, there's a sadness around

21:47

that. I kind of

21:49

understand the doubt because,

21:51

you know, the snowfall line

21:54

seems to be going up. And

21:56

the complication of the, you know,

21:58

the ewe and the dock. And

22:00

we've done some hiking here in the last

22:02

couple of days and it is pristine, it

22:04

is stunning and you do

22:06

see that a ski field is quite

22:09

invasive on a mountain but at the same

22:11

time I'm a skier so I love that

22:13

option of being able to also ski here

22:15

so it's complex. It's a shame that

22:18

particularly with the the

22:20

Chateau down here it's a real shame that

22:23

that's not operating because that's a landmark place

22:25

yeah and certainly with I don't know

22:28

whether it's global warming or not with

22:31

the seasons being a bit tricky

22:33

for the ski field that's pretty

22:36

tough yeah and

22:38

whether the government should be pouring money into it

22:40

or not I don't really know. Even

22:42

if we don't know what's going to happen to the ski field

22:44

you think it's got a future? It's

22:46

got a future, yes David it's an icon you

22:49

know it's a big mountain in the middle of the island

22:52

it's a real attraction yeah it definitely got a

22:54

future.