Tauranga City Council needs independent oversight to implement landslide recommendations – Editorial
Can Tauranga City Council be trusted to implement recommendations from the independent report into the Mount Maunganui landslide tragedy?
This is a burning question given that the review found the organisation missed opportunities over 27 years to take actions that could have prevented the deaths.
It has been more than a fortnight since the review into the January 22 disaster that killed six holidaymakers was released.
This needless tragedy devastated families and loved ones, scarred the community and impacted businesses.
The report by former High Court Judge Paul Davison, KC, found that experts warned of landslide risks and rockfall hazards to the campground years earlier.
However, plans to mitigate risks and educate staff on warning signs were not put in place.
The earliest warnings date back to 1999.
Geotechnical experts explicitly warned the council in December 2023 and as recently as June 2025.
However, Davison found that the reports did not go beyond siloed council teams and were not escalated to more senior staff. The report rightly described the mess as “a systemic failure with tragic consequences”.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale and chief executive Marty Grenfell fronted a media conference on August 19. Drysdale told the media he knew nothing about the risk until after the event and apologised to the families.
Opinions have been expressed, calls for action have been made, and developments have occurred after the report’s release.
People must have a say on this matter because people died. It is also in the public interest because it involves public safety and confidence in the council.
The Herald revealed that the report cost more than $500,000. This is a lot of money, and the spending has come under fire.
However, it is understandable that the council wanted to commission its own review. That has allowed it to shine an early light on what went wrong and what needs to be done.
Mauao and its surrounding areas remain closed. Reducing the risk of slips and rockfall enough to fully reopen facilities at the base of Mauao could cost up to $38 million.
The Bay of Plenty Times reported that Tauranga councillors met this week to formally accept the review’s findings. They also hammered senior council staff with questions.
Grenfell refuses to resign, says he is in the “best position” to lead the city council and that “there’s no one more determined or motivated to ensure that changes are made to this organisation”.
Understandably, some people want personal accountability. Some people will find it frustrating that the council, at this stage, comes through this as a bureaucratic entity in which no one person is held to account for people dying.
But Grenfell’s stance is also understandable. Clearly, he wants to fix this, and three inquiries into the tragedy are still underway.
Davison makes 10 recommendations, including that every identified natural-hazard risk to life should have a single, named Tauranga City Council staff member accountable for its management, recorded, confirmed in writing and acknowledged.
The recommendations also include mandatory recording, escalation and close-out of identified risks; a central register of geotechnical and natural-hazard reports; and Trigger Action Response Plans and frontline capability for populated sites.
Drysdale says the council’s challenge is to ensure the recommendations are embedded so that the organisation manages, escalates and deals with risk better.
However, that burning question remains. Can the council, as an organisation, be trusted to do this?
A man whose wife was killed in the CTV building collapse in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake does not think so and has written to the Prime Minister calling for independent oversight of the council.
Maan Alkaisi wants independent monitoring of the council’s decision-making, and regular, transparent reporting to ensure all safety recommendations are implemented.
He questions how the council will act responsibly given what has happened.
“How can you trust them that they will actually do the job without any monitoring ... ”
He’s right.
The report’s findings defy belief. They expose an organisation that has failed horribly in managing deadly risk.
Safeguards are needed moving forward.
The Government needs to appoint independent Crown monitors to hold the council to account for following through on and implementing recommendations from Davison’s report.
This will help reassure the public. The council organisation cannot be trusted to do it without supervision.