Tom Phillips case: 'Circuit breaker' moment was missed, says mayor

The mayor of Waitomo asked the Children's Commissioner to intervene and bring the government agencies involved in the Tom Phillips case together in a "circuit breaker" moment, a year before Phillips was killed.

A public inquiry has found authorities minimised the potential for Phillips' three children to be harmed and did not collaborate well , resulting in missed opportunities to end the saga.

Waitomo mayor John Robertson feared there was something awry years ago.

"A year before the tragedy of the shooting of Tom Phillips and the finding of the children, I made a call to the commissioner for children, pondering whether there was another way through this.