The disaster at Mt Maunganui

Andrea Vance summarises what we know:

• In May 1999, an engineering and geotechnical consultant Dr Laurie Richards explicitly told council that putting campers under those over-steepened cut slopes was “imprudent” because of the high risk from fast-moving mud and rock.
• In 2005 and 2006, Avalon Industrial Services warned that a major slip could kill 21 people in one hit.
• Avalon called fir an end to earthworks, excavation and tree clearance without a full geotechnical check
• In 2005 Council ignored Avalon and trenched a fire main across the fragile hillside
• In 2019 Council felled large trees directly above the campground without an engineering review
• In 2023 and 2025 two seperate consultants recommended a Trigger Action Response Plan which is a simple operational rulebook so that if rainfall hits a set threshold, or if muddy water starts seeping from the toe, evacuations are immediate.
• The Council never did that
• Not a single hazard sign warning incoming campers

That is all bad enough to clearly identify the deaths were preventable. On the day we had people warning of the danger, but council staff did nothing.

The Council Chief Executive must resign/ Not because he is legally or morally culpable. But because it demands accountability – just we saw at Cave Creek. For years they had these reports telling them there was a risk to life, yet this never ended up on their corporate risk register. That is a failure of management, not governance.