Te Papa staff face job uncertainty after the museum announced plans for an organisational review and restructure. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Te Papa staff face job uncertainty after the museum announced plans for an organisational review and restructure. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Jobs are on the chopping block at the country’s national museum with Te Papa Tongarewa today announcing a restructure to “ensure financial sustainability”.
Te Papa co-leaders chief executive Courtney Johnston and Kaihautū Dr Arapata Hakiwai announced in a statement it is “carrying out an organisational review proposed to restructure itsteams, positions and reporting lines”.
It comes after the Herald reported the museum is staring down another year of multimillion-dollar losses.
Te Papa this year released its statement of performance expectations 2025/26, showing a forecast $13 million deficit for the Crown entity after depreciation.
The museum reported an $8.1m deficit in the 2023/2024 financial year.
“Our focus is on securing our financial future. Rising costs and maintenance of our specialist buildings have put a strain on our cash reserves. As kaitiaki of the national museum, we’ve made significant operational savings and increases to our revenue, but we need to do more,” the co-leaders said.
Te Papa, pictured left in Wellington's CBD, is carrying out an organisational review as it faces a forecast deficit of $13m. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Te Papa will continue to operate for visitors as usual, and entry will remain free for New Zealanders and residents of New Zealand.
About a year ago, it announced a $35 international visitor fee was being introduced, citing the increased cost of energy, insurance and staffing.
As a Crown entity, Te Papa receives $44m each year from the Government and must raise at least $30m on top of that to stay afloat, with that money made up of partnerships, philanthropy and donations, and commercial activities such as corporate functions.
The organisational review is proposed to be carried out in two phases.
Phase one will be finalised this year with a focus on changes to management “at tier two and three” of the management scale.
Phase two is planned for early next year and is focused on the rest of Te Papa.
“Final decisions of both proposed phases would be implemented in April 2026,” the statement said.
A Te Papa spokeswoman said there was no indication yet how many roles could be lost.
In August, Te Papa spokeswoman Kate Camp said “new revenue streams will come from building on existing offerings like guided tours and paid-for exhibitions”.
It is considering charging for more experiences, Camp said, but maintained entry to Te Papa will always remain free for New Zealanders.
Te Papa spokeswoman Kate Camp says entry to the museum will always remain free for New Zealanders. Photo / Ebony Lamb
As for whether the entity would be seeking further Government funding to support its financial recovery, Camp said it was “always involved in active dialogue with our monitoring agency [Ministry for Culture and Heritage] about what we deliver and the resources required”.
In July, it was announced as the No 1 tourist attraction in New Zealand for the second year running and was named in the top 1% “Best of the Best attractions worldwide” by TripAdvisor.
The tourism sector continues to struggle post-Covid, with the latest International Visitor Survey showing spending by international tourists had jumped 9.2% in the past year to $12.2 billion but still remains below pre-Covid levels.
In Wellington specifically, the sector contributed $862.9m towards the capital city’s GDP in 2024, making up 2.5% of Wellington’s economic output, Infometrics data shows. In 2000, that number was 3.2%.
Tourism hasn’t grown in Wellington at the same rate as other centres. The economic output of Wellington City’s tourism sector increased by 2.2% in 2024, compared with 10.2% for the whole of New Zealand.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.
