Mount Maunganui landslide: Council releases external review findings

It is the first of five investigations into the slip, with the Government, WorkSafe, police and the coroner running separate probes.

Davison’s report shows that despite geotechnical consultants warning of landslide risks and rockfall hazards to the campground years prior to the deadly landslide, plans to mitigate risks and educate staff on warning signs were not implemented.

The earliest warnings from experts about the landslide risk date back to 1999. The TCC was also explicitly warned of risks by geotechnical experts in December 2023, and again in June 2025.

“This was a systemic failure with tragic consequences,” the report said.

Experts in 2023 and 2025 recommended a Trigger Action Response Plan (Tarp), which would have helped staff identify risks like muddy water and forecast rain as a trigger for evacuating campers.

“Had a Tarp been in place, evacuation would likely have occurred well prior to the fatal landslide”.

The failures are not limited to inaction years prior to the deadly event on the morning of January 22.

The first missed opportunity to evacuate those staying at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park was when MetService issued a rare red heavy rain warning.

The next was the obvious signs of danger that morning which included “smaller slips above the campground” and a “stream of muddy turbid water” flowing from the foot of the slope.

Morrinsville teacher Lisa McClennan and her partner Travis McClennan woke around 4.30am to the sound of a slip hitting the back of their campervan.

The report says the pair urgently tried to call the holiday park to tell them what had occurred, but a phone call made at 4.43am went through to a security guard who explained that no one was on site.

Davison’s final thoughts said his review had been “sobering in its simplicity”.

“This was not a hazard that was unknown, hidden or beyond the reach of foresight.

“For more than two decades, one competent consultant after another identified the landslide hazard to the campground.”

He said this landslide hazard was located on the very slope that failed.

Davison said there was a previous warning that a holiday accommodation beneath Mauao’s slopes was “imprudent” and the risk to sleeping occupants was “high”.

He said this warning, which identified risk above the Harbour Amenities building, was repeated over many years.

“What was missing was not knowledge, but an organisation able to hold, assess and act on it.”

Davison said if a Tarp had been in place, it would have prompted an evacuation and the landslide victims would not have been within the path of the landslide.

“The loss of life could in all likelihood have been averted.”

Davison said the review did not find any individual accountable.

“It does not find that any individual did anything intentionally or deliberately wrong, or that any one or more persons’ acts or omissions caused these tragic deaths.”

He said the review also found the tree removal in 2019 did not cause the landslide.

However, Davison said the tragedy was preventable.

The report said the council had a “highly qualified natural-hazard specialist” when external reports in 2023 and 2025 identified landslide risk at the campground.

Davison said this specialist “appeared to be the most well-qualified person within TCC” to assess geotechnical and natural-hazard risks.

However, his role was considered to be advisory. The campground owner was expected to carry forward the recommendations of these reports.

Davison found, in his view, the specialist was “entirely unaware” of one of these reports.

The report said the specialist first became aware of the reports identifying landslide risk at the campground after the fatal Mauao landslide.

In an interview with Davison, the specialist said: “It is something that concerned me a lot seeing that report, that something of significance is being produced within council, but then, in my role ... I am not aware, consulted or given any insight”.

The specialist said this was not an isolated oversight, but a “feature of the way TCC operated”.

The specialist conducted his own analysis, which determined the fatal Mauao landslide was “between 100 and 1000 times above the threshold of tolerable risk”.

He calculated a likelihood of one fatality every two-and-a-half years, should the rainfall between January 21 and January 22 reoccur.

The specialist said water flowing from the landslide site “at least” required people to evacuate.

The report said the staff member who had the authority to make this decision had been given no training or information on landslide risk.

Davison said the failure to evacuate everyone from the landslide area was “deeply systemic”.

He said it was the consequence of a failed organisational structure and risk management process, despite widespread knowledge of landslide risk at the campground.

“Warnings sufficient to prompt consideration of evacuating the toe-of-slope campsites were received, and the appropriate precaution was articulated on the ground.”

However, there was no framework to recognise, escalate, or act upon landslide risk or Tarp to guide the decision.

The landslide crashed down from Mauao into the campground at its base at about 9.30am on January 22, after record rainfall.

The slip also hit the Mount Hot Pools next door.

The victims were recovered and identified over an 11-day emergency response.

They were: Pakūranga College student couple Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee, both 15; Rotorua friends Susan Doreen Knowles and Jacqualine Wheeler, both 71; Morrinsville educator Lisa Anne Maclennan, 50, and Swedish tourist Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20.

The council faced scrutiny over whether the campground deaths could have been prevented, including whether campers should have been evacuated sooner.

It had closed Mauao’s popular tracks earlier that morning after slips.

The campground was owned and operated by the council, while facilities arm BayVenues ran the Mount Hot Pools. The council jointly manages the iwi-owned Mauao Historic Reserve with the Mauao Trust.

The council launched an external review into the landslide tragedy in February.

In an emergency meeting, several councillors emphasised the need for a transparent process that could deliver rapid answers.

Mauao, the holiday park and the hot pools remain closed, along with the nearby Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service building.

The street they are on, Adams Ave, and the Pilot Bay boat ramp closed again last month after a “major regression” of the campground slip, which saw about another 8000 cubic metres of earth shift.

Shipping containers have been placed between the slip site and the road, and the council is adding rock-filled bags outside the containers as an additional protective measure.

It aims to reopen Adams Ave and the boat ramp by the end of the month.

The Bay of Plenty Times revealed on Monday the owner of Rustica pizzeria, opposite the campground, had “pulled the plug” after the fresh slip.

Several nearby businesses say the prolonged disruption since the slip has taken a significant financial toll.

Decisions about the long-term future of the facilities have yet to be made.

The council has completed repairs to Mauao’s slip-damaged Motukauri 4WD summit track, which remains closed to the public.

Remediation work was underway on Te Ara Tūtanga base track.

Ground movement on Mauao was being monitored through inspections and geotechnical monitoring systems.

Tauranga City Council recovery manager Charlie Rahiri told the Bay of Plenty Times in June that Mauao was a “couple of months away” from reopening.

Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.