Tauranga City Council has hired four external law firms to navigate the complex legal aftermath of the catastrophic Mauao landslide on January 22, which claimed six lives and triggered multiple high-level investigations.
The landslide struck the council-owned Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park during a period of extreme weather, killing six holidaymakers. The event also caused significant damage to the adjacent Mount Hot Pools, which are operated by the council-controlled organisation Bay Venues. The maunga itself, a treasured local landmark, sustained about 42 separate landslides, forcing the closure of its popular walking tracks, the holiday park, the hot pools, and the Pilot Bay boat ramp.
In response to the tragedy, a series of formal inquiries have been launched by the Coroner, NZ Police, WorkSafe NZ, and the central Government. The council is also conducting its own independent review, led by prominent lawyer Paul Davison, KC. To manage the scale and complexity of these processes, the council has engaged Auckland-based public interest law specialists Meredith Connell, along with local firms Cooney Lees Morgan and Holland Beckett Law. A fourth firm, Auckland-headquartered Molloy Batts, has also been brought in to provide independent legal advice to council staff involved in the inquiries.
Council faces 'extraordinary' volume of documents
The decision to employ multiple legal teams stems from the enormous volume of information that must be processed for the inquiries. The council revealed that more than 100,000 potentially relevant documents were identified in the immediate aftermath of the slip. Meredith Connell has been tasked with the mammoth job of reviewing and collating this material for the formal reviews and for public information requests made under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).
In a statement, the council said managing a task of this magnitude is 'well beyond what an in-house legal team can reasonably absorb alongside business-as-usual responsibilities'. It noted that Meredith Connell was chosen for its capacity, systems, and experience in handling large-scale, event-specific legal responses. The other firms were engaged specifically to ensure council staff have access to independent advice as they participate in the formal investigation processes.
As part of a commitment to transparency, the council has launched a dedicated website to publish documents related to the landslide. However, many of these documents feature redactions. The council explained that all publicly released information undergoes a structured legal review to prevent the disclosure of legally privileged or confidential material, protect individual privacy, and avoid compromising the ongoing formal inquiries. While the council faces scrutiny over its management of the area, it is also involved in other civic matters, with recent attention on its handling of public spaces as protesters rallied against proposed move-on powers.
Projected costs climb into the millions
The extensive legal and professional response comes with a significant price tag. Last week, the council retrospectively approved $500,000 already spent on these services. A further $850,000 in spending is anticipated by the end of the current financial year in June, with an additional $2 million forecast for the following year. These figures bring the total projected cost for legal and technical support to $3.35 million.
To cover these substantial and unanticipated costs, the council is exploring several options, including insurance claims and utilising its risk reserve, which held a balance of $5 million as of mid-2025. This financial pressure is not dissimilar to the challenges faced by authorities in other parts of the world when dealing with natural disasters, such as when a new wildfire ignites in Los Angeles County, placing immense strain on public resources.
Beyond the legal fees, the council has also set a provisional 'placeholder' budget of $6 million for capital expenditure. This fund is earmarked for the physical restoration of Mauao, including its walking tracks and other council facilities affected by the slip. Council officials have stressed that this is an initial estimate, with detailed assessments and engineering work still ongoing to determine the full scope and cost of the required remediation.
Multiple agencies conduct separate investigations
Bay Venues, the organisation that manages the Mount Hot Pools, has also initiated its own response. Chief executive Chad Hooker confirmed that Bay Venues has sought 'limited, one-off advice' from legal counsel Tompkins Wake to ensure its approach is appropriate. The organisation is also working with an external health and safety specialist to review its systems and identify areas for improvement.
The various inquiries are proceeding along different timelines. The WorkSafe NZ investigation, which was announced in February, is focused on whether businesses and organisations breached the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and is expected to take a full year to complete. Information on the agency's role can be found on the WorkSafe NZ website. The central Government inquiry, which will also examine a fatal landslide in Welcome Bay that occurred on the same day, is scheduled to deliver its final report by December 3.
The public is expected to receive the first detailed findings from the council's own commissioned review, led by Paul Davison, KC. The results of that inquiry are expected to be completed and released to the community by the middle of this year.
