Deb Lawson, 49, and her son James, 15, are among more than 270 families affected by the collapse of Actura New Zealand.
Deb Lawson, 49, and her son James, 15, are among more than 270 families affected by the collapse of Actura New Zealand.
Nasa school camp company Actura has gone into liquidation owing NZ families about $3.7 million and Australian creditors $18.4m. It is also understood to be in liquidation in Singapore and Taiwan.
Kiwi families have had to pursue liquidation of the NZ arm of the company by becoming shareholders after parents and grandparents went into debt by adding the $14,000 camp fees on mortgages or funding them by extra jobs.
Hundreds of distraught New Zealand and Australian families are fighting to recoup $22 million owed to them by a tour company that promised student trips to Nasa’s headquarters in Houston.
More than 270 Kiwi families are “hurting badly” after potentially losing their $14,000 student camp enrolmentfee to Actura, with the company allegedly asking parents to deposit thousands of dollars just weeks before it went into liquidation. It is also alleged Actura sent fake itineraries to parents for flights to the United States that were never booked.
The New Zealand arm of the company went into liquidation on July 18. The Australian arm is also in liquidation, owing creditors more than $18.4m.
Overseeing the New Zealand liquidation is Fixity director Larissa Logan, who said local creditors looked to be owed $3.7m. She could not officially confirm that number until today, when she is expected to release her report.
“Parents were working part-time jobs, doing Ubers, and grandparents were putting [camp fees] on the mortgage. There’s some really sad stories of people who have gone into debt,” Logan said.
The Actura camp was advertised through 25 schools across New Zealand for a two-week CASE Space School programme. Actura correspondence came with school letterheads and sales reps from the company were conducting business on school premises.
“I’m just working through all of the details,” Logan said. “I had to reach out to the schools last week to try and figure out who the creditors were because the information I was getting out of the director was just not helpful.
“These creditors, these [NZ] parents have been left in no man’s land for a month while Australia’s kind of looked after themselves.”
Parents received an email on June 14 from company director Charles Chung that said Actura Australia had gone into liquidation, the 2024 and 2025 international study programmes were cancelled and the company had “no financial resources to provide customer refunds”.
Chung has not responded to the Herald’s questions.
Actura is also understood to have entered into a formal insolvency in Singapore and Taiwan.
The Herald has access to the Australian liquidator’s report, and most creditors seem to be individuals owed the $10,000 to $30,000 it would cost to enrol one or two children in the camp.
There are a few companies to which Actura Australia owes hundreds of thousands of dollars, including $495,000 to the Australian Tax Office, but the creditors list is dominated by hundreds of individuals owed smaller amounts.
The two-week CASE Space School programmes run by Actura offered students a chance to attend a science camp in the United States.
Students from Brevard County high schools participate in a roundtable discussion with engineers, scientists and business experts at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, on Nov. 7, 2018.
Auckland parent Deb Lawson has spearheaded the effort to place Actura NZ in liquidation and try to retrieve the parents’ funds.
To do this, she had to become a shareholder in Actura NZ by buying a few hundred dollars worth of shares. She is now asking the approximately 300 New Zealand parents who lost money to contribute $100 each to help pay the roughly $30,000 in liquidation fees to Fixity.
“With these families who have been so burnt already, it’s been left up to us to actually force the company into liquidation … left to parents who have been affected and $15k out of pocket to buy shares,” she said.
So far, Kiwi parents have amassed only $12,000 and, if the remaining funds aren’t raised, the fees will have to come out of whatever is recouped from the liquidation process.
Lawson is one of the fortunate parents who paid the $14,000 enrolment for her 15-year-old son James on credit. She has had the money refunded because she never received the goods and services as promised.
“We put the full amount on, so luckily for me I’m one step removed from the emotional side of it. And that’s why I think I’ve got the head space to actually fight to do it,” she said.
Lawson is also the administrator of the Actura Families Facebook page. She said many had expected they would have to cut their losses.
“I get that fire in my belly ... I just want to know we’ve explored every possible avenue to hold him [Actura director] accountable because, in my opinion, it’s so premeditated. The parents are hurting so much already.”
The 49-year-old Castor Bay resident said there were families across New Zealand who were due to leave on their student trip to Nasa at the start of school holidays on July 6.
“[The company] sent false itineraries with flight numbers, accommodation bookings, and there were no insurance policies taken out,” Lawson claims.
“So we’ve subsequently had folks who have received these itineraries, followed up with airlines, and they’ve confirmed in most cases there were no bookings made.
“These were for trips two weeks out from that date of liquidation. So, in my opinion, there was never any intent to follow through with them.”
“It’s not quite the same as space camp,” a Rocket Lab spokesperson said. “But if they can make it to Auckland, we’d love to show these kids through the rocket factory and mission control.”
One New Zealand mum caught up in the Actura collapse described the Rocket Lab offer as “incredible ... the email made me cry”.
Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck. The company has offered disappointed space camp students a tour of its facility in Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell
A former Actura employee, who did not wish to be named, told the Herald they found out about the closure in a company-wide Zoom meeting on July 12.
“We were blindsided by this. It’s not something we were aware of,” the employee said.
“The company advised us to cease all communication but that didn’t sit right. We took it upon ourselves to speak to parents and teachers. The least we can do is to talk to them.”
Actura Australia has taken down its website and Facebook pages.
The Herald tried to email the company but received the response: “Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, Actura has ceased all operations. This inbox is no longer monitored.”
Several of the schools associated with the programme have also been contacted.
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.
