Tourism businesses upset key info is unavailable until after the election

Wednesday, 7 October 2020

New Zealand had about 20,000 tourism businesses pre-Covid and about 126 key ones received more than $270m in grants and loans to save them from possible closure.

Information about a controversial scheme to help tourism businesses will not be available until after the election.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis is also in the gun after taking four weeks to reply to 48 businesses demanding answers over the strategic asset protection programme (Stapp)

Lawyer Andy Glenie is acting for the tourism operators who have asked the Auditor General to investigate the way grant requests were assessed, and they have threatened to seek a judicial review of the process for choosing 130 out of 308 applicants.

Glenie sent Davis an 11-page letter detailing questions about the scheme, and he described the minister’s reply as a “disappointing” and “disrespectful” brush off, given that they had asked for a response within 10 working days.

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Minister of Tourism Kelvin Davis says it is too soon to talk about reallocating any money left over from the Stapp scheme if loan offers are not taken up, but any funding that does remain will be used for tourism recovery.

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Kaikoura Whale Watch was among the more successful Stapp applicants, receiving a grant of $1.5m to ensure the business continued operating.

“The Minister of Tourism took four weeks to respond with just six paragraphs, offering nothing but platitudes.

“These businesses are living and dying day to day and it’s not cool to take as long as it has to respond.”

In a letter dated September 30, Davis said he and fellow tourism recovery group ministers were “acutely aware of the tough times operators have had, and some will continue to have,” and had worked quickly to provide support.

He pointed out changing circumstances – such as a delay in the Trans-Tasman or Pacific Island bubbles – meant the level of support offered had changed, but the assessment criteria for Stapp applicants had not, and decisions would not be revisited.

“At this stage no new applications can be made or reconsiderations of original decisions undertaken,” Davis said.

Stapp briefing notes released late last week by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said officials had received late applications, pleas for additional money after applicants realised their initial requests were too low, and groups of companies wanting to “disaggregate” the amount they had asked for in order to access more in cash grants which were capped at $500,000.

A spokesman for the minister’s office said that Glenie had received an acknowledgement of his letter on September 3, the day after it was received.

The following day he was told requests for documents sought in relation to Stapp decisions made by the Tourism Ministers Recovery Group would be treated as Official Information Act (OIA) requests because of the amount of material involved.

A request for a full list of Stapp applicants was denied on the grounds it was commercially sensitive.

Another request seeking access to feedback from Government agencies on applicants was extended by 20 days because of the level of consultation and volume of material involved, and Glenie said it would therefore not be available until after the election.

“The released papers raise many more questions than they answer about the way in which the Stapp scheme was first presented to the sector, the way in which applications were then assessed, why the Ministers decided to press ahead with the scheme despite being advised not to [by MBIE officials].”