The CTV Families Group wants the Government to take action after new evidence emerged regarding the Mount Maunganui landslide.
Led by University of Canterbury Professor Maan Alkaisi and advocate David Lynch, the group said an engineering report from June 2025 confirmed the tragedy was both foreseeable and preventable. The public safety report warning of a risk to life sat unread for up to eight months despite being authorised by a senior council official, while a scheduled meeting to discuss it was cancelled and never rescheduled.
The group alleged systemic governance failures at Tauranga City Council, noting that councillors failed to read the report despite decades of documented land instability warnings. The earliest caution dated back to a 1999 geotechnical assessment that described placing accommodation beneath the slopes as a high risk to sleeping occupants.
The CTV Families Group also highlighted that despite multiple 111 calls reporting water flowing down the slope three hours prior to the landslide, no evacuation was ordered.
As with the 2011 Christchurch CTV building collapse, the group said both tragedies featured repeatedly documented hazards, ignored critical reports and institutions closing ranks rather than confronting failures.
Consequently, the CTV Families Group has suggested establishing independent oversight of Tauranga City Council and commission a formal review into emergency response failures.
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Image credit: Rodrigo Kammer
