Heat on senior staff as councillors pick apart landslide failures
Tauranga City Council members are questioning senior staff following a critical review of the Mount Maunganui landslide that killed six people. The review concluded the tragedy was preventable and resulted from systemic failures over 27 years.
Why it matters
The report highlights significant accountability issues in local government management and the failure to act on known environmental risks.
<p>Councillors hammered senior Tauranga City Council staff with questions in a meeting to discuss a highly critical review that found the Mount Maunganui landslide tragedy was <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/19/mahe-drysdale-on-mt-maunganui-landslide-we-should-have-done-better/" target="_blank">preventable.</a></p> <p><b>By Ayla Yeoman of Local Democracry Reporting</b></p> <p>On Tuesday, councillors formally accepted the findings and recommendations of former High Court Judge Paul Davison’s external review into the council’s actions before the slip.</p> <p><a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/29/grieving-deeply-vigil-held-for-mt-maunganui-slip-victims/" target="_blank">Six holidaymakers were killed</a> in the January 22 landslide into the council-run Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park.</p> <p>Davison found the landslide risk was <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/19/mahe-drysdale-on-mt-maunganui-landslide-we-should-have-done-better/" target="_blank">known by the council</a> and the organisation missed opportunities, over 27 years, to take actions that could have prevented the deaths.</p> <p>Davison attributed this to systemic failures and found no individual accountable for the tragedy.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in