Three iwi are decisive in the future of the North Island's skifields. First settle the claim over Tongariro National Park, they say, and then talk about skiing on the sacred maunga.
The Government went to skiers with its bail-out proposal for the Whakapapa and Turoa skifields, without first talking to some major iwi creditors.
MBIE deputy chief executive Robert Pigou is leading the negotiations on behalf of the Cabinet, but acknowledged he hadn't spoken with some of the Māori trusts who between them hold $11 million in Ruapehu tourism bonds.
"I've spoken to some of them," he told Newsroom. "I have not been able to get to all of them before this has obviously gone live."
Pigou wrote to the 14,500 life pass holders on Friday afternoon, proposing a deal to liquidate the not-for-profit skifields operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Ltd. $28 million that it owes to the taxpayer and ANZ bank would be written off; the life pass holders are being asked to pay an additional $2500 each to kickstart a new business.
But Pigou acknowledges that doesn't account for the $12m owed to tourism bond holders, primarily a few big Māori trusts. And amid all the heated talk about the failure of the not-for-profit skifields operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Ltd, the three main iwi around the mountain have said very little.
Now, in comments to Newsroom, they are giving a quiet reminder that the future of skiing and snowboarding on Ruapehu depends on the outcome of delayed negotiations of their Treaty claim to Tongariro National Park. Iwi are not seeking the return of the land, but instead are talking with the Government about cultural redress.
"This is something that's been waiting for 170 years to be dealt with. Why should we rush because others haven't done the due diligence in terms of their operations and investments? And I'm talking about RAL. If that means giving the mountain a rest for a year, I would agree with that." – Aiden Gilbert, Te Korowai o Wainuiārua
After MBIE and ANZ, they are the biggest creditors. The iwi and their associated trusts, mostly connected to Ngāti Tuwharetoa on the north side of Tongariro National Park, are critical to any new skifield operation getting off the ground.
Despite the plan to liquidate the existing company and set up a new one with up to $20m from life pass holders and another $4.5m loaned by ANZ, nobody knows who would own the new company.
Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton (whose council is owed $500,000) met with associate local government minister Kieran McAnulty ahead of the announcement. He says the Government is not keen on taking ownership of such a risky, seasonal business.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing," Pigou observes. "Three years ago, when we made these investments, it didn't look like a highly volatile seasonal business at that time, and had a pretty good track record. It's the combination of two Covid lockdowns and the bad snow season this year, which has really gotten them into this into this pickle.
The Government has previously taken majority ownership of tourism assets like the national carrier, Air New Zealand. So what is his advice to Cabinet on taking on ownership of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts?
"I don't think any of us can predict what the weather's going to do in the future," Pigou says. "And that has always been the case for this endeavour. So I think it's really too early to say we need to wait and see what what response we get from the life pass holders before we give any advice to ministers."
"We have first security over the gondola asset so therefore will engage when something real is on the table." – Rakei Taiaroa, Tuwharetoa Māori Trust Board
ANZ would be most unlikely to want to retain a stake, and the local councils – Ruapehu and Taupō – couldn't afford the tens of millions of capital needed for deferred maintenance alone. With little community appetite for handing over the operating concession to a multinational skifield operator like Vail Resorts, all eyes are now turning to iwi.
And iwi refuse to be hurried.
Rakeipoho Taiaroa, the chief executive of Tuwharetoa Māori Trust Board, represents the collective of bond investors that are Tūwharetoa trusts. "We are not the iwi," he emphasises. "The iwi organisation for korero is Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa. They are the claimant for the National Park."
The point is, the iwi and its trusts are in many respects inseparable. By statute, any new operator needs the agreement of iwi to operate on the mountain, and iwi will be cautious about any longterm solutions until the Treaty settlement is signed.
"The bondholders are secured, but you know, in a fire sale your security as only good as whatever offer's gonna come across the line." – Robert Pigou, MBIE
"Our group invested in the gondola on a secured bond basis," Taiaroa says. "A prominent weighting for our inclusion, other than financial, was the employment of our Tūwharetoa people up the mountain in the Ruapehu District. We will adjoin discussions with voluntary administrators when a milestone is reached.
"We have first security over the gondola asset so therefore will engage when something real is on the table."
Robert Pigou expressed caution about the security held by the iwi trusts. "The bondholders are secured, but you know, in a fire sale your security as only good as whatever offer's gonna come across the line.
"Obviously they are important stakeholders and we're engaging with them and keeping them informed as best we can of what we're trying to do, and also of progress."
Ngāti Rangi chair Whetu Moataane says his iwi has always wanted to implement its environmental strategy so the maunga can return to its original state.
They are disappointed to not be consulted. "We were very surprised that we weren't told that this was going to happen," he says. "What irritates Maori organisations and iwi is that we're a second thought.
"Maybe this is a time for us to just to have a break, to reset, to rejuvenate the environment. And also to come up with a plan that's going to help the wider region, and in particular, our businesses." – Whetu Moataane, Ngāti Rangi
"What we need to remind people is that iwi are not going anywhere, we're gonna be here forever. We have leverage, we have community engagement, and we have relationships with a lot of government agencies."
Moataane says koro, as local iwi call the maunga, would tell them when he was ready to have people on him again. "Maybe this is a time for us to just to have a break, to reset, to rejuvenate the environment. And also to come up with a plan that's going to help the wider region, and in particular, our businesses.
"We've seen two or three seasons now that we've had hardly any snow on the lower part of the mountain. We were very clear that we oppose activity up at the higher parts by the peaks, because the peaks are very sacred to Ngāti Rangi. That we would never ever approve skiing activity to be near the peaks.
"The crater lake Te Wai ā-moe is very important and significant to the tribe. We've encouraged Ruapehu Alpine Lifts to try and keep away from there. We know people go up there. But it's an opportunity again, even though we've been very clear in our korero over the years, just to re-enlighten people on the cultural significance of koro to us, and the importance he has to the tribe and to the people."
Te Korowai o Wainuiārua chair Aiden Gilbert, from Nga Hapu o Uenuku on the western and southern sides of the mountain, says iwi must balance the suffering of local businesses ("I don't know how much longer they can take another rahui on business") with the longterm care of the mountain.
Uenuku had always been dubious of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts' singular focus on the winter tourism season, he tells Newsroom. That's a view shared by Government and especially the local councils, who have been seeking support to expand cycle trails and other summer tourism attractions.
"There was quite a fundamental business move needed, to make sure that your operation ran both winter and summer," Gilbert says. "So I guess hindsight is a good thing. But it didn't work out for them just concentrating on one part of the year, namely winter. Another thing that's probably what's going against him was that the lack of snow for the last three years, and chuck in two years of Covid lockdowns, and it wasn't a good start
"MBIE loaned them a bit of money before the lockdowns to mitigate the future. It hasn't quite worked out."
Though Tuwharetoa trusts have already invested heavily in the Sky Waka on Whakapapa, Gilbert says any skifields operator that managed both sides of the mountain would have to involve Uenuku and Ngāti Rangi as well. It would be precipitous to set up a new business now, without actually sorting out "who's who on the on the maunga".
So, like other iwi, his focus is on the Treaty settlement – he says negotiations are already running a year behind schedule. He expects a briefing on the Taranaki National Park Treaty settlement this weekend, and says that should help decide the path forward for the Tongariro National Park settlement.
"Let's get together, sort out who's who on the mountain, and let that settlement go through," he says.
"We've got this thing hanging around our neck at the moment because most of the community relied on RAL as the cash cow, so the Government's probably in a pickle in terms of, how do they mitigate that so the community doesn't suffer? Well, it's probably a tad late for that if you're living in our towns like National Park or Ohakune or Raetihi. It's already taken effect from the lockdowns."
"There are people that are anxious to just try and keep the ball rolling. But I'm not sure that it's wise to pour more money into something that may not happen this year. There might not be enough snow, there might be skiing for only two months of the year. Haven't they learned any lessons from the previous few years?"
He says there are merits to taking a pause, for perhaps a year, rather than rushing through a new business solution to satisfy the skiiers and snowboarders – but rushing matters may not be socially or environmentally sustainable. He believes the mountain could do with a break.
"It's just a common sense approach," he says. "This isn't a tortoise-and-hare race, for who gets to the finish line first."
"This is something that's been waiting for 170 years to be dealt with. Why should we rush because others haven't done the due diligence in terms of their operations and investments? And I'm talking about RAL.
"I can only speak on our behalf. For us, we're carrying on having a watching and listening brief. And if that means giving the mountain a rest for a year, I would agree with that."
