Recap of MWLT Public Meeting
On Thursday 11 September the Mt Wellington Licensing Trust (MWLT) held a public meeting to discuss the resolution passed by MWLT in July, initiating the process to convert to a Community Trust under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
The meeting was independently chaired by Brian Blake, Chair of the Wiri Licensing Trust.
INTRODUCTION
The Interim GM Rob Wakelin outlined his background and experience of working in high-profile sporting and non-profit organisations to whakawhanaunga with the community and explained his brief of bringing the refreshed Mt Wellington Charitable Trust (MWCT) to life.
BACKGROUND
When MWLT had run hotel and hospitality businesses, MWCT had been reliant on business performance to be able to distribute grants to the community.
The distinction was noted between grants made by MWCT (from business profits) and the distribution of gaming proceeds - undertaken most recently by the Lion Foundation, with advisory input by the MWLT Grants Committee.
In the last decade the most donated to community causes by MWCT had been $230,188, and no donations had been made since the Covid lockdowns as the businesses had struggled.
MWLT no longer have any involvement with gaming machines, or granting from those proceeds, however the new owners of the Corner Bar have partnered with Dragon Community Trust and local community organisations are still able to apply for support from DCT.
INVESTMENT
Since the sale of the hotel/hospitality businesses the Trust's capital has been invested in diversified portfolios, spread across two separate portfolios held by MWCT and Mt Wellington Trust Hotels (MWTH).
The Trust has partnered with Māpua Wealth, investment consultants who specialise in working with charities, foundations and iwi entities.
The investment portfolios are spread across equities and bonds and the portfolio is being built with a "layering strategy" where cash holdings are invested over a 12-month period, lowering the risk to market shocks and fluctuations.
The investments are governed by a Statement of Investment Policy Objectives (SIPO) that guides how funds are invested and expected returns. The SIPO guides expected distribution of returns to support community granting and overheads.
The investment target in the SIPO is a return of "Inflation + 5%" over 5-year periods.
MWLT has a (group) Investment Committee who Māpua Wealth report to quarterly on portfolio performance, market commentary and highlighting any alerts/risks.
From March to June the MWCT/MWTH portfolios had returns of 1.5% and 1.9%.
GRANTING
There are no changes to the purposes in the MWCT Trust Deed.
Granting process will be governed by a Statement of Grant Policy Objectives (SGPO), which is in development.
MWCT will partner with Perpetual Guardian who will independently guide the grants committee through the decision-making process, ensuring adherence to the SGPO.
From the formula within the SIPO, there will be $720,000 available for granting in FY26 - in future years there is a formula that takes 80% of the previous year amount, and the final 20% is determined by investment performance so year-on-year there will be consistent amounts available for granting.
The amounts granted come from investment returns and will not affect the invested capital.
MWCT COMMUNITY SUPPORT
MWCT will place a greater focus on communication - using news and media channels to "shine a light" on the good work being done in the community by local organisations.
Organisations will be coached on how to prepare great applications to MWCT, and that coaching support will extend to other topics such as applying for gaming funds, marketing, financial management, governance - based on feedback from the organisations as to what areas they'd like to be supported in.
Regular MWLT/MWCT public meetings will be held and the public voice will be sought on forming MWCT Strategy and reporting back following granting rounds.
Public meetings are scheduled for 3 December 2025, 16 April 2026 and 15 October 2026.
The AGM will be held in July/August pending completion of the FY2026 audit.
WHY DID MWLT PASS A RESOLUTION TO CONVERT TO A COMMUNITY TRUST?
As a Licensing Trust, MWLT is governed by the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
The SSAA allows MWLT to distribute "net profit" though advice received suggests it cannot currently consolidate its assets to streamline the organisation and reduce overhead costs, or if it did there would be a risk of tax implications.
If converted to a Community Trust, the Trust would have its own Trust Deed that allowed more scope to consolidate capital to sit with the Charitable Trust, a registered charity, and then wind up the MWTH entity which would have a significant impact on cost of insurance, audit and other overheads.
Converting to a Community Trust (or not) will not impact the establishment of the granting mentioned above, it enables MWLT to reduce the entities in the structure and the related overheads will reduce.
COMMUNITY VOTE
Verified electors at the meeting voted 41-16 to revoke the MWLT resolution.
MWLT will not convert to a Community Trust and under s354 of the SSAA 2012 cannot pass another resolution to convert until at least 11 July 2026.
MEETING MINUTES IN REVIEW
Formal meeting minutes can be viewed here.
(These Minutes remain "in review" to the next MWLT Trustee meeting on 3 December 2025)
Please note: The BoardPro tool automatically generates titles which in this case are incorrect however the correct titles for MWLT are Troy Elliott, President, and other members are Trustees.