Council review of deadly slip to proceed as Government looks at its own inquiry
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed a new minister to tackle the response to the recent devastating extreme weather ‒ and is strongly considering commissioning a Government inquiry.
However, the Tauranga council inquiry after last week’s fatal landslide at Mount Maunganui’s Beachside Holiday Park was likely to go ahead, mayor Mahé Drysdale said on Tuesday.
“I think there are a number of questions and facts that we need to reveal.”
He said the council would “hold no secrets”.
The slip at Mount Maunganui left six people presumed dead in the council-owned campsite after extreme rainfall last week.
Luxon appointed Chris Penk as an associate emergency management minister with responsibility for the response to the floods, and asked him to immediately look at whether a wider inquiry was needed.
“I believe there is a strong case for an independent government inquiry. Establishing the facts is not only what the families of those who lost their lives deserve, but also important to help ensure lessons are learned to prevent similar tragedies in future,” Luxon said.
Read more:
Mt Maunganui landslide: Why only a Government inquiry can get the truth
Early morning landslide 111 call reached Tauranga council but wasn’t acted on
Drysdale, who announced an independent inquiry into the matter last Friday, said at a media briefing on Tuesday that the council would continue with its inquiry.
He said that while both inquiries would canvass similar facts, the council’s was likely to be finished more quickly. He was aiming for a maximum of six months for the council investigation.
“We have a due diligence to do.”
He said relevant documents would be collated and released by the council, even in advance of the review being completed.
“We will be releasing as much information as we can before the review.”
A wider inquiry than the current council-initiated review may mean it is given powers to compel evidence and the production of documents.
Questions have been asked about whether the council or authorities did enough to prepare for the risk as a 111 call was placed ahead of the huge slip by a concerned person who had noticed a small slip earlier in the morning.
A July 2025 landslide study warned of danger across Mount Maunganui – but the deadly slip that buried at least six people this week hit just outside the zones that officials had mapped.
The report, commissioned by Tauranga City Council, used detailed terrain mapping to define high-risk slopes. But its boundaries stopped at Adams Avenue, east of the holiday park, leaving the area unmapped.
But not all inquiries are alike, and if the Government intervenes it could give whoever runs the inquiry more broad powers under the Inquiry Act ‒ such as the ability to compel the production of documents and evidence.
Luxon said there was a “potential inherent conflict of interest” with the council organising the inquiry given it owned the campground where the disaster occurred.
Luxon announces ‘drop in the ocean’ funding
Luxon also announced $2.2m in immediate funding assistance ‒ $1 million for marae who had helped with the response and $1.2m for the Mayoral Relief Funds.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis acknowledged this was a fraction of the wider funding the Government would provide to deal with the events.
“It’s a drop in the ocean ‒ that’s just putting cash into bank accounts to make sure responses aren’t stopped for lack of resources,” Willis said.
Willis said wider funding will be put aside for the recovery of things like roads but the exact size of this will take some time to work out. The new funding is just to make sure the response can continue.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said: “I hope that the central government, through the minister, will work with the council to make sure that there is a very rigorous and thorough inquiry, but one that's done in a timely fashion.“
He said he would withhold judgment about the exact details of the tragedy until after the inquiry but defended his decision to attack the Government on its dismantling of a $6 billion resilience fund.