David Farrar: $50 million of taxpayer money on a ski field

Newsroom has a summary of taxpayer money spent on Mt Ruapehu:

• 2018 – $10m towards financing the Sky Waka (pre-insolvency)

• 2020 – $5m for operating expenses (pre-insolvency)

• November 2022 – $2m loan to support RAL (in insolvency)

• December 2022 – $6m loan to support RAL (in insolvency)

• June 2023 – $5m loan to support RAL (in insolvency)

• October 2023 – $7m loan to support RAL (in insolvency)

• March 2024 – $7m loan to support RAL (in insolvency)

• March 2024 – $3.05m Tūroa purchase support

• December 2024 – $5m Whakapapa purchase support (committed)

How often have we been told this is the final assistance. We are now deep into the sunk cost fallacy.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.