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Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/10/23



Taxpayers might be piste off, as govt lending to ski field is lifted to $50m – but more corporate welfare is announced, too

The distributions of two dollops of corporate welfare have been proudly announced in government press statements today, but neither mentions or relates to the further taxpayer funding for ski fields on the skids.

The government’s official website tells of $7 million being provided to boost aerospace operators and an unstated sum to help forestry processors.

But Point of Order learned from Newsroom of further corporate largesse (which has yet to be mentioned on the Beehive website):

There’s concern at a Cabinet decision, in the shadow of election, to increase its lending to $50m and set up ski field for private ownership

Two businessmen have welcomed a Government green light for them to take over Turoa ski field.

Speaking from Singapore in a gap between business meetings, Pure Tūroa director Greg Hickman tells Newsroom his team are delighted for the Ruapehu communities that depend on a vibrant winter tourism industry.


Hickman acknowledged to Newsroom that the $3.05m MBIE loan for his company, signed off by ministers yesterday, requires the Department of Conservation to issue a concession to operate commercially in one of New Zealand’s most treasured national parks.

“Settlement is conditional on a DoC Concession being assigned, likely early next year, and assuming no major opposition,” he says.

Point of Order has not undertaken a thorough search, but the information we found on the government’s official website falls short of accounting for $50 million of government lending or investing in the ski field.

We found:


26 JUNE 2023

Up to $5 million provided to the liquidators of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts “to ensure the mountain’s 2023 ski season can go ahead”.


7 DECEMBER 2022

A further $6 million bridging funding “to allow time for MBIE through Kanoa-RDU to support the development of an alternative commercial solution”.

This would “enable alternative solutions to be developed and provide sufficient working capital to retain the RAL management team while a potential resolution continues to be negotiated.

This was in addition to $2 million already extended to RAL from the Crown.


26 JULY 2019

In conjunction with Tuwharetoa Trust (contributing $9.5 million) and others, the Provincial Growth Fund has contributed $10 million to the $25 million Sky Waka Gondola project at Whakapapa in the form of a loan “to enable this key piece of tourism infrastructure to be realised”.


15 JUNE 2018

The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) provided a $10 million loan to Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Ltd for the construction of a high-speed gondola on the Whakapapa ski field.

But as we said earlier, there is no mention of the funding mentioned today by Newsroom.

Our monitoring today did find an array of other boasts about government achievements:

Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni and Education Minister Jan Tinetti were eager to tell us of a major milestone being reached under the Government’s Apprenticeship Boost initiative. It has now supported 20,000 employers to help keep on and train up apprentices.

Almost 62,000 apprentices have been supported to start and keep training for a trade since the initiative was introduced in August 2020.

Ethnicity statistics are absent from the press statement, but Sepuloni says:

“Programmes like Apprenticeship Boost, Mana in Mahi, He Poutama Rangatahi and Māori Trades and Training have all been pivotal in keeping people in jobs and supporting employers to invest in jobseekers.”

Forestry Minister Peeni Henare is enthusing about the government supporting non-pine-tree sawmilling and backing further job creation in sawmills in Rotorua and Whangarei.

Infrastructure Minister Megan Woods is chuffed about the Government giving some lift to Canterbury’s aerospace industry by providing further infrastructure support for the Tāwhaki Aerospace Centre at Kaitorete. “Infrastructure support” is another way of saying “money”.

Environment Minister David Parker and Forestry Minister Peeni Henare are pleased that local councils have been given more power to control commercial forestry operations. Councils will be able to decide where new commercial forests – including carbon forests – are located, to reduce impacts on communities and the environment.

Environment Minister David Parker want us to know “the government has taken an important step” to provide clarity for development and the environment. He is referring to the implementation of the new resource management system, by issuing a draft National Planning Framework (NPF) document under the new legislation.

Defence Minister Andrew Little and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta are advising us (according to the headline on their press statement) that New Zealand is resuming peacekeeping force leadership.

The specifics are that New Zealand “will again contribute to the leadership of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt”.

NZ’s contribution takes the forms of “a senior New Zealand Defence Force officer returning as Interim Force Commander”.

Latest from the Beehive

3 OCTOBER 2023


The Government’s Apprenticeship Boost initiative has now supported 20,000 employers to help keep on and train up apprentices, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni announced in Christchurch today.


The Government is supporting non-pine tree sawmilling and backing further job creation in sawmills in Rotorua and Whangarei, Forestry Minister Peeni Henare said.


The Government is helping Canterbury’s aerospace industry take off with further infrastructure support for the Tāwhaki Aerospace Centre at Kaitorete, Infrastructure Minister Dr Megan Woods has


Local councils will have more power to decide where new commercial forests – including carbon forests – are located, to reduce impacts on communities and the environment, Environment Minister D

2 OCTOBER 2023


New Zealand will again contribute to the leadership of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, with a senior New Zealand Defence Force officer returning as Interim Force Commander.


The Government has taken an important step in implementing the new resource management system, by issuing a draft National Planning Framework (NPF) document under the new legislation.

Two of those statements – as you can see – amount to distributions of corporate welfare.

But Forestry Minister Peeni Henare is bashful when it comes to declaring how much public money is involved.

His statement mentions government support for sawmilling which – in dollar terms – is not specified. But he is calling hogs to a new trough: the Te Kōtuku Fund will co‑invest with small-scale processors to lift productivity and capacity and create more local jobs.

He also is pitching for Māori votes:

“It’s exciting. Te Kōtuku Fund will also help unlock co-investment opportunities for Māori communities to process their forestry resources into timber for use in papakāinga and for sale to the market.”

Again without dollar details, the statement says the Government is also providing loans to two companies through the Wood Processing Growth Fund, “to help grow domestic wood processing by up to 72,000 cubic metres”.

Astro Pine NZ Limited of Ngongotahā, Rotorua, makes high-quality products by planing and finger-jointing low-grade timber into mouldings such as architraves and window frames. The loan will enable them to expand output on their existing site by 15,000 cubic metres per year,” Peeni Henare said.

The expansion is expected to create 10-15 new jobs and local sawmills will benefit from increased demand for sawn timber.

Rosvall Sawmill Limited of Whareora, Whangārei, makes timber products for residential and industrial construction. The loan will co-finance a state-of-the-art treatment facility, enabling them to scale-up processing by 42,000 cubic metres of logs per year, and will initially create 3 more full time jobs on site and facilitate considerable total growth for the period ahead.

Over the next few years this growth will lead to approximately 8 new jobs being created in the company.

The loans are to be matched by 50 percent co-funding from the businesses.

Te Kōtuku Fund will be open to wood processors to process up to 15,000 cubic metres of logs per annum of non-pine trees, such as other exotic trees or native trees legally harvested under the Forest Act 1949. Eligibility criteria will be similar to those of the Wood Processing Catalyst Programme, with some additional flexibility to recognise the unique circumstances of small-scale processing. Te Kōtuku Fund will open for applications in November 2023.

Wood processors looking to expand or upgrade, and interested in partnering with the Government on feasibility studies, business cases and capital investment, can find out more information here: Wood Processing Growth Fund.

The website at the end of the link will tell you the fund has “about $57 million available” to expand the country’s wood processing sector.

For more about corporate welfare, we move from wood to Woods- namely, Infrastructure Minister Megan Woods.

She was confirming the government will provide a $5.4 million grant to the Tāwhaki Joint Venture to fund a sealed runway and hangar facilities to encourage investment, growth and continued research and development in New Zealand’s aerospace industry.

This will be money well spent of course, because Woods says:

“Tāwhaki predicts that over the next 10 years this development will contribute to over 1,300 highly skilled, high-paying jobs and up to $2.4bn in economic benefits.”

And where will Woods be in 10 years, when Point of Order checks on what has been achieved…?

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton

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