Prime Minister apologises to Tom Phillips' children and their mother following inquiry

The Prime Minister has apologised to both the mother and her children who spent almost four years isolated in the bush with their father, Tom Phillips.

A fulsome report by Honourable Justice Simon Moore KC was made public on Tuesday , more than a year after Phillips died in a police shootout in rural Waikato.

It found the concerns of maternal whānau of the children were "minimised or overlooked by agencies for significant periods" and a more collaborative approach from Oranga Tamariki (OT) and NZ Police "could have prevented the children's disappearance and brought them back sooner".

Christopher Luxon did not attend the press conference at Parliament alongside minister in charge of the inquiry Louise Upston, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, and OT chief executive Amanda Malu.