Minister ‘intended’ to release interim Moa Point report, then didn’t: Claim Government not taking fiasco seriously
Saturday, 11 July 2026
Suppression of a report into the ongoing Moa Point sewage fiasco, which Local Government Minister Simon Watts “intended” to release before refusing, has a local MP wondering how seriously the Government is treating the 10.5 billion litre catastrophe.
Watts ordered a Crown review, which has so far cost Wellingtonians $350,000-and-rising, into the February 4 Moa Point sewage catastrophe and told The Post he intended to make the interim findings and final report public.
After getting the interim report this month, he said it would not be released “at this time” based on advice from the Crown review team. His office stressed that he only ever “intended“ to release it, as opposed to promising to.
“[Releasing it] so could risk prejudicing investigations or enforcement action by the regional council, as well as any potential commercial or legal action arising from the incident,” Watts said in a statement.
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“I understand the frustration of those affected by the Moa Point incident, you deserve answers. My priority is ensuring the review is completed properly and the Crown Review team’s natural justice obligations are met.”
The full report, due in August, would be released “as soon as practicable after it is finalised”, he said. His office said the interim report may be released after that.
The Moa Point sewage treatment plant on the city’s south coast had a catastrophic failure in February. The full cost of repair is over $53m with operations not resuming until at least November. The amount covered by insurance remains unknown.
Since the disaster, 70 million litres of untreated, but screened, wastewater has been discharged daily just off Moa Point near Lyall Bay, in the heart of the Rongotai electorate.
The Rongotai electorate changes boundaries and becomes Wellington Bays in the upcoming general election.
Green Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter, running in the Wellington Bays election, said Watts’ change of heart was disappointing.
“I think people will appreciate that there will be legal sensitivities but, at the very least, Wellingtonians deserve a time frame for the release of this report,” she said.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the problem was fixed but about 10.5 billion litres of untreated wastewater had so far been released into the sea and people were starting to feel there was a lack of Government urgency about solving the “huge“ problem, she said.
Labour Wellington Bays candidate Craig Renney said it was “essential“ to get answers about how the failure occurred so future incidents could be avoided.
“Wellingtonians deserve transparency and accountability on this, so releasing the information as soon as possible is essential,” he said.
“However, given the complex legal and insurance issues involved, we shouldn’t put taxpayers in further financial jeopardy.”
He was confident the mayor and council wanted answers and for them to be public as soon as possible.
“The bigger issue is how we pay for our water services in the future, and how we keep it in public hands. Moa Point is a symbol of what might happen if we continue to get this wrong in the future.”
While being run as a single Crown review, it is actually concurrent reviews into the Wellington City Council and Wellington Water, which has now been subsumed into Wellington’s new water utility, Tiaki Wai. The initial findings had been due back before July 1, when Tiaki Wai took over.
National Wellington Bays candidate Karunā Muthu was approached for comment.