The whānau of the three Phillips children repeatedly warned authorities the children were at risk before their father took them into the Marokopa bush a second time, but a public inquiry has found those pleas were minimised, brushed aside, and in some cases, never even read.
Tom Phillips was shot dead by police after firing at an officer on September 8, 2025. He had been on the run with his three children in dense Waikato bush for four years.
Watch live: Govt response to Tom Phillips inquiry
The Report of the Public Inquiry into the Disappearance of the Phillips Children, undertaken by the Honourable Justice Simon Moore KC released today, found police and Oranga Tamariki could have prevented him taking the children a second time or found them earlier had they shared more information.
It also detailed several missed opportunities which meant the children were not recovered until the day their fugitive father was fatally shot by police.
On behalf of the Government, Social Development Minister Louise Upston apologised directly to the children, saying agencies "did not take all practical steps to protect you".
"For that we are deeply sorry," she said.
"Significant opportunities were missed, particularly between the two disappearances."
Oranga Tamariki chief executive Amanda Malu said the report "makes for difficult and at times harrowing reading", while Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the initial investigation "was not given the focus and resource it required".
Phillips first disappeared with the children for 18 days in September 2021, abandoning his ute below the high tide mark on Kiritehere Beach with the keys inside. The discovery sparked a large-scale search and rescue operation. On his return, police charged him with wasting police resources and filed a report of concern to Oranga Tamariki.
Police believed Phillips may have staged his and the children's deaths based on how he left the ute and were worried he would take them again. They also built a profile showing he had anti-government and anti-police views, was an alcoholic, and was motivated to keep the children hidden to avoid Family Court proceedings.
The report found those concerns "were not sufficiently conveyed to Oranga Tamariki".
The children's mother, referred to in the report as Ms Smith, told the inquiry she had left what she described as an abusive and controlling relationship with Phillips and spoke of his behaviour to isolate her from the children.
She said she made several attempts to raise concerns with Oranga Tamariki after the first disappearance but that the area manager was "constantly unavailable".
The children's two older sisters, given the names Anna and Jane in the report, pushed hard for someone to act prior to the second disappearance.
Jane flew home specifically to check on the children and contacted Oranga Tamariki repeatedly between October 1-5, 2021.
In one call, she asked whether Oranga Tamariki "would be held responsible if the children went missing again" and said she would keep calling "until something was done".
Oranga Tamariki did not meet with her and never treated her concerns as a formal report of concern, the inquiry found.
Her sister Anna swore an affidavit detailing what she described as controlling and abusive experiences with Phillips and emailed it to Oranga Tamariki.
The supervisor overseeing the case told the inquiry she could not recall reading it, remarking "we can't react to every piece of information". After later reading it, she acknowledged the allegations "read terribly" and that social workers likely "would have challenged Tom".
The inquiry found it appeared no one at Oranga Tamariki read the affidavit at all.
On October 6, 2021, the agency told the Family Court the children were "completely fine" and that there might be no need for further involvement, without mentioning the family's concerns or the ongoing police investigation.
"Had Police and Oranga Tamariki worked more closely and collaboratively during this early stage, the taking of the children by Tom Phillips a second time could have been prevented or, at least, made more difficult," the report said.
Home-schooling became another means for Phillips to isolate the children, the inquiry found - he pulled them from school in 2020 without telling Ms Smith, obtained exemptions that legally needed only one parent's consent, and the Ministry of Education never reviewed the arrangement despite his high-profile disappearance.
Taken a second time
Phillips took the children again on December 9, 2021, uncovered when a scheduled call from Ms Smith on December 15 did not go through to the family farm.
The inquiry found, unlike the first disappearance, police did not launch a search and rescue response or hand the matter to the Criminal Investigation Branch.
Instead, they adopted a deliberately low-key approach - a strategy the report said rested on the "misconceived view that there were no concerns for the children's welfare".
The dominant view was that Phillips had returned unharmed once and would do so again.
The senior officer originally assigned to the matter told the inquiry he "made the assessment at that point given that it had been a short period of time that there was no risk to their health and safety", while the Area Commander at the time said the aim had been to "softly bring him out" using local staff who knew the rural community.
Missed chances to bring the children home
The report found police should have obtained surveillance device warrants before August 2023, made earlier use of covert intersection and road cameras, and offered a reward before June 2024.
It also identified avoidable delays. A member of the public called police in May 2023 with a credible sighting of Phillips and the three children, but police delays meant it was "not properly followed up in a timely way". Police also took around three months to link Phillips to the aggravated robbery of an ANZ bank in Te Kūiti in May 2023.
Oranga Tamariki "should not have closed the report of concern in February 2022", the inquiry found, having done so "in the face of compelling concerns raised by the children's older sisters as to the risk and harm to the children of being isolated from family and society".
The report was pointed on that harm, finding it "was underplayed, minimised or overlooked by agencies for significant periods", while concerns from the maternal family "were often minimised as being part of a parenting dispute".
Extensive resources and investigative techniques were eventually brought to bear, the report found, including area canvassing, public appeals, a reward, aerial searches and electronic surveillance. Police and NZDF also responded promptly to significant sightings in October 2024 and April 2025.
The guns no one seized
The inquiry found Phillips had at least eight firearms during the second disappearance, and likely more never recovered.
His weapons included the gun he used to shoot a police officer in the confrontation that killed him, and a modified Beretta almost certainly used in the bank robbery.
It found police failed to act on repeated warnings about his weapons. In February 2021, Ms Smith told police Phillips had "at least 12 guns that police did not know about" claiming they were "stored all over the place...some were hidden under the couch, under the bed at home and up at his parents' farm".
Police records show officers questioned her credibility because of the "custody dispute in the background", and the inquiry found "there is no evidence that anyone in police took any action" on the allegations.
Phillips' licence was suspended in October 2021, but the inquiry found it took nearly two months to serve the notice and an instruction to seize any remaining firearms was never carried out, despite police holding information that he had guns stored at his parents' farm.
Staff across core agencies - police, Oranga Tamariki, and NZDF - agreed with the report's finding that better coordination would have protected the children's welfare better.
Nine recommendations
The inquiry made nine recommendations. It called on police to fully explain their concerns when making reports to Oranga Tamariki, and to act promptly on gun-safety warnings from former partners.
It recommended Oranga Tamariki train staff to recognise parental alienation as a form of harm, and keep the Family Court informed of all concerns raised by family members and any ongoing police investigation.
It urged the Ministry of Education to seek more information when assessing home-schooling applications, and to require the consent of both parents before a child can be withdrawn from school. It also recommended earlier joint planning between police and the Defence Force.
Terms of reference developed with the privacy and welfare of the three "vulnerable" children in mind. (Source: 1News)
What the inquiry looked at - and what it didn't
The inquiry examined whether government agencies, including New Zealand Police and Oranga Tamariki, took all practicable steps to safeguard the children's safety and welfare both prior to their disappearance and in the years they were missing.
The engagement of agencies with the Family Court before and after the children first vanished with their father in September 2021 was examined, along with the legal options available to them. Also, what they knew about Tom Phillips and his activities during that time, and how Phillips obtained and kept a firearms licence, weapons and ammunition.
It did not examine what happened after the children were found on September 8, 2025, or court decisions relating to the children, including suppression orders.
A broader review of the firearms licensing system was also not in scope, nor was determining criminal or civil liability.
How we got here
The inquiry into the disappearance of Phillips' children was launched on November 27, 2025 by then-Attorney-General Judith Collins.
It endeavoured to answer whether government agencies took all practicable steps to protect the safety and welfare of the Phillips children.
Terms of reference had been developed with the privacy and welfare of the three vulnerable children in mind, Collins said at the time.
The report was presented to the Governor-General's office today, and then delivered to Attorney-General Chris Bishop.
Phillips went on the run with his three children in December 2021, living at multiple hideouts in dense Waikato bush for around four years. During that time police believed he was responsible for several crimes, including an armed robbery at the ANZ Bank in Te Kuiti, and treated him as armed and highly dangerous.
He was shot dead in a confrontation with police, following a burglary at a Piopio store, on Te Anga Rd in the King Country in the early hours from September 8, 2025.
Phillips had shot and critically wounded one police officer with a "high powered rifle" when another officer opened fire, a decision the police watchdog found to be justified.
One of his children was present at the scene of the fatal shooting, with the two other children found later that evening.
In May, police completed a probe into possible accomplices of Phillips. No charges were laid.
The injured officer, shot in the head and shoulder by Phillips, is set to return to work on a "light duties basis", police said in July.
SHARE ME