External review frequently asked questions

In summary, the findings of the Davison Report are:

• TCC knew of the landslide risk at the Holiday Park, as evidenced by expert reports dating back to 1999;
• Geotechnical consultants recommended in December 2023 and June 2025 that TCC develop a Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP) to manage that risk;
• TCC had not implemented those recommendations by 22 January 2026;
• The failure to implement those recommendations was systemic: no person had been allocated ownership of the risk, responsibility was not clearly transferred or recorded, the recommendations were not tracked through to completion, and the matter was not escalated;
• TCC missed several opportunities during the 24 hours preceding the fatal landslide to evacuate the affected area;
• Either the rainfall conditions or the observed discharge of muddy water would independently have triggered an evacuation under an appropriate TARP; and
• Had the affected area been evacuated and kept clear, the loss of life would likely have been avoided.

The External Review makes ten systemic recommendations:

• Single, accountable ownership of every risk to life, including risks that cross internal team and administrative boundaries.
• Mandatory recording, escalation and close-out of identified risks to life.
• A central register of geotechnical and natural-hazard reports.
• Notification between teams where one team commissions safety-related work affecting another.
• Quantitative and societal risk assessment against defined tolerability criteria.
• Independent commissioning of safety assessments, drawing on the Council's own specialist expertise.
• Trigger Action Response Plans (TARPs) and frontline capability for populated sites.
• Contracted, scheduled monitoring of known hazard sites, with independent assurance.
• Geotechnical assessment before physical works on or above populated areas.
• Enhanced co-ordination of the campground/Mauao geohazard interface.

Shortly before 9.30am, on 22 January 2026.

The landslide began on the south-eastern slope of Mauao (Mount Maunganui) and flowed into the adjacent Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park.

The amenities building within the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park that was engulfed by the landslide was known as the Harbour Amenities Block.

Lisa Maclennan (50) from Morrinsville; Susan Knowles (71) and Jacqualine Wheeler (71) from Rotorua; Måns Bernhardsson (20) from Sweden; and Sharon Maccanico (15) and Max Furse-Kee (15), both from Auckland.

External Review into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park Landslide on 22 January 2026.

The day after the landslide occurred, Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale, with support from the Councillors, announced an external review into the tragic event. The decision to proceed with the external review was passed by resolution at a Council meeting on 2 February 2026. On 12 February 2026, Mayor Mahé appointed Hon Paul Davison KSO KC as the independent reviewer to undertake the external review, and his Terms of Reference were confirmed. The external review subsequently took approximately six months to complete.

Hon Paul Davison KSO KC is a retired High Court Judge who also sat as a member of a Divisional Court of Appeal. He retired from the High Court in 2023 and has since resumed practice at the Bar as a mediator, arbitrator, and provider of litigation and consultancy advice.

Under its Terms of Reference, the external review was directed to consider the facts, timeline and decision-making processes in the lead up to the landslide at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park on 22 January 2026, the adequacy of risk assessments and monitoring systems and any lessons or improvements needed to strengthen future safety.

While the Terms of Reference are focused on the immediate period leading up to the landslide, the scope allowed all relevant information to be considered, within any timeframe, if Mr Davison believed it to be appropriate. View the Terms of Reference.

Some names in the report have been redacted to protect people's privacy and the health, safety and wellbeing of Council staff and former staff. For Council staff, individual names and job titles have been replaced with neutral labels such as "Staff Member A" so the report still makes sense without identifying anyone. For other people named in the report, including members of the public, witnesses, families of the victims, and external professionals such as Police, Fire and Emergency, St John and geotechnical experts, names were considered individually. Some of those names have been kept, with the person's agreement, and others redacted. None of the redactions alter the report's findings, its account of events, or its recommendations.

In the interests of transparency and keeping the public informed, Tauranga City Council has released 720 documents associated with the landslide onto a dedicated website since March 2026. These documents were considered as part of the review.

There are two separate reserves at Mauao, with different ownership and management structures. These are:

Mauao Historic Reserve
The reserve is owned by the Mauao Trust - an entity established to hold ownership of Mauao (Mount Maunganui) on behalf of the Tauranga Moana iwi – Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, and Ngāti Pūkenga. Council and Mauao Trust have entered into a memorandum of understanding which establishes Ngā Poutiriao ō Mauao: a joint administering board with representation from the three iwi of Tauranga Moana and Waitaha, alongside Tauranga City Council. The purpose of Ngā Poutiriāo ō Mauao is to manage and administer Mauao Historic Reserve.

Mauao Recreation Reserve
Tauranga City Council owns this reserve and is the administering body under the Reserves Act 1977. The reserve includes the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, Mount Hot Pools and the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service Building.

The Holiday Park is owned and operated by Tauranga City Council.

The Mount Hot Pools are on Council-owned land and the buildings are owned and operated by Bay Venues Limited, a Council Controlled Organisation.

The Lifeguard Service own their building, and Tauranga City Council owns the land it sits on.