Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does the Government need to take over the Mt Maunganui landslide inquiry?

Right, it seems there’s a very good chance that Tauranga City Council is going to have the inquiry they’ve launched taken off them and run by the Government instead.

The Government hasn’t actually said those words out loud just yet. What they have said is that there is a strong case for a Government inquiry.

But you can read between the lines here - they’re preparing us, and probably most importantly preparing the Tauranga City Council, for the fact that they, the Government, are going to run this inquiry.

And they should be the ones running it. The council can’t investigate its own actions like it’s planning to do. No one is going to believe the council if it concludes the council has done nothing wrong - if you follow what I’m saying.

And there are plenty of reasons to think the council may actually have done quite a lot wrong here.

From the 111 call they claimed wasn’t forwarded to them - until they realised, whoopsie, yes it was - through to reports that council staff were at the campground before the slip but didn’t evacuate everyone, to the possibility that they were involved in clearing trees above the slip site.

Now that, by the way - the trees issue - is potentially quite significant. It looks very much, if you compare the photos, like trees, probably pōhutukawa, were cleared from the site above the slip sometime between 2017 and 2019, probably to stop myrtle rust.

If this is what happened - if the council stuffed up by removing trees and not replacing them, when everyone knows that plants stabilise the ground, and if the council was warned about slips in the hours before they happened and ignored those warnings, then they should carry the can for that.

I have seen - and I don’t know if you’ve been seeing this too - but I have seen too many councils, lately, get away with dropping the ball.

Auckland Council having drinks while the city was flooding three years ago. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council being begged to open the bar to prevent Wairoa from flooding, not opening the bar, and - guess what - Wairoa flooded.

If no one is ever blamed for the things they do wrong before an event, then nothing changes.

So the Government’s on the right track here. They need to take over this inquiry.

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