The former judge who headed a major Mt Erebus crash inquiry has been appointed to lead Tauranga City Council’s review into the deadly Mount Maunganui landslide.

Six campers died after a section of Mauao hillside collapsed, sending a landslide into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park and the Mount Hot Pools about 9.30am on January 22.

It followed a record 24 hours of rain in Tauranga, with the region under a state of emergency amid a red weather warning.

It took 11 days to recover the bodies of the victims: Pakūranga College students Max Furse-Kee and Sharon Maccanico, both 15; Rotorua friends Susan Doreen Knowles and Jacqualine Wheeler, both 71; Swedish tourist Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20; and Morrinsville educator Lisa Anne Maclennan, 50.

The six people killed in the Mauao landslide were (clockwise from top left) Pakuranga College student couple Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee, both 15; Rotorua property manager Susan Doreen Knowles, 71; Morrinsville educator Lisa Anne Maclennan, 50; Swedish tourist Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20; and Rotorua interior design store co-founder Jacqualine Wheeler, 71.

The council, which owns the campground, has faced scrutiny over whether the deaths could have been prevented, including whether the campground should have been evacuated after overnight slips on Mauao.

Last week, the council voted to appoint an external expert to lead a review into what happened leading up to the slip.

In a statement today, the council said Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale had appointed former High Court judge Paul Davidson, KC, to this role.

Davison sat as a member of the Divisional Court of Appeal and retired from the High Court in 2023. He has since resumed practice at the Bar as a mediator, arbitrator and provider of litigation and consultancy.

Davison has appeared as counsel before several major commissions of inquiry, including the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Air New Zealand DC‑10 accident at Mt Erebus in 1979.

It was the deadliest accident in New Zealand history, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board.

Paul Davison, KC, leaving the High Court in Auckland in 2013, when he was acting as Kim Dotcom's counsel and was a Queen's Counsel. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Last year, he undertook the Government-appointed role of independent arbiter responsible for determining financial redress for survivors of the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit.

Before being made a High Court judge, Davison was also Kim Dotcom’s lawyer for a time.

Drysdale said the appointment reflected the council’s “commitment to a truly independent, robust and transparent review process”.

“Davison’s independence, extensive experience, and reputation for rigorous analysis give me and the councillors full trust and confidence in the integrity of the review, and we expect his appointment will offer assurance to our community as well.”

The full terms of reference have been published on the council’s website. Davison’s final report will be provided to the mayor, and if it contained confidential or private information, Davison would provide a summary report for public release.

Drysdale said that now the terms of reference for the review have been confirmed and Davison appointed, the council must step back and focus on providing any information or documents needed to enable Davison to do his job.

The review would consider the facts, timeline and decision-making processes in the lead-up to the landslide at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, the adequacy of risk assessments and monitoring systems, and any lessons or improvements needed to strengthen future safety.

Drysdale said the terms focused on the period immediately before the landslide, but the scope allowed Davison to consider anything he considered relevant within any timeframe, and to access independent experts.

The statement said the council’s review was separate from any other probes by central government or associated agencies, and was expected to be completed by the middle of the year.

The slip at Mauao, Mount Maunganui as seen from the air. Photo / Screengrab, Amy Till

“Our review will be complementary to any other inquiry or investigation, and we are committed to working closely with the central government to ensure minimal duplication and ongoing council co-operation in their recently announced Government Inquiry.”

Associate Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Chris Penk has confirmed the Government will launch its own inquiry into the slip.

Where appropriate, that inquiry may also extend to the landslide that killed two people in Welcome Bay Rd earlier on the morning of January 22. Austen Keith Richardson, 10, and his grandmother Yao Fang, 71, died.

The Government was yet to finalise who would lead its inquiry, but it would likely include someone with geo-technical expertise, take six to nine months and cost several million dollars.

Penk told the Herald Cabinet believed a Government-led independent inquiry was needed given the council’s potential conflict of interest.

The inquiry is not intended to determine liability, with Cabinet wary of overlapping with any WorkSafe investigations.

WorkSafe has said it will look into the organisations that had a duty of care for everyone at the holiday park and whether they were meeting their work health and safety responsibilities.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Ayla Yeoman is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.