The mayor of Waitomo asked the Children's Commissioner to intervene and bring the government agencies involved in the Tom Phillips case together in a "circuit breaker" moment, a year before Phillips was killed.
By Robin Martin of RNZ
A public inquiry has found authorities minimised the potential for Phillips' three children to be harmed and did not collaborate well, resulting in missed opportunities to end the saga.
Waitomo mayor John Robertson feared there was something awry years ago.
"A year before the tragedy of the shooting of Tom Phillips and the finding of the children, I made a call to the commissioner for children, pondering whether there was another way through this.
"And someone of standing, a commissioner for children seemed to me to be appropriate to try to bring the parties, the government parties that were involved together and see if there was some way to, you know, create a circuit breaker in this."
Robertson said the report made interesting reading.
"The comments, the criticism that our government departments weren't being collaborative enough or working together enough on this. That's certainly something I wondered [about] a year before, after year three, really, of the Tom Phillips and the children being away."
He said he'd had cordial discussion with then-Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad.
"I called her on the phone to ask if she would intervene – by bringing the police and the Family Court / Oranga Tamariki together to see if there was an opportunity to 'negotiate' a way through the impasse. It was a good conversation, she said she would reflect [on it], but I heard no more."
Concerns 'minimised' by agencies – Children's Commissioner
Social Development Minister Louise Upston said the children were deprived of a happy childhood. (Source: 1News)
Achmad said she remembered the call.
"Yes, I do, and I really appreciated Mayor Robertson contacting me with his suggestions for how things could be progressed," she said.
"I remember that the mayor was understandably very concerned about the ongoing safety and wellbeing of the children, and he was, of course, advocating strongly throughout for their safe return."
She took up the baton.
"Of course took those suggestions and concerns forward to Oranga Tamariki and to police at the highest level, at chief executive and commissioner level. And I made clear that I had concerns, of course, about seeing the safe return of the children.
"I also made an offer at that time, following the mayor's prompting, that if there was anything that I could do from my independent role as Children's Commissioner, then those agencies were welcome to call on me for that independent role to the extent that I could."
She got a lukewarm response.
"Those offers were not taken up, and I received assurances that everything was being done to ensure the safe return of those children, and that the agencies were working closely together on bringing those children home safely and locating them."
Achmad said in light of the assurances given to her, the inquiry's findings were deeply disappointing.
"What's absolutely clear to me, having read this inquiry report, is that the concerns that had been coming forward from the whānau and from the community had clearly been minimised by these agencies, and it's clear to me now that these agencies were not working together as closely as they should have been.
"And that's incredibly, incredibly disappointing and unacceptable in my view."
Achmad was puzzled that Robertson believed he had not heard back from her.
"I think that might be a bit of a miscommunication. My memory, my recollection, is that a call was put through to the council office and a message was left. I remember that I couldn't reach him there that day.
"My recollection is that I left a message at the council offices just letting him know that I had heard his concerns and suggestions and that I was taking those forward."
Achmad said she would follow up with the mayor.
'Very frank' findings welcomed
Meanwhile, Robertson welcomed the "very frank" inquiry's findings, which had helped fill-in gaps in the information available to him and locals over the four years Phillips was on the run with his three children.
"I'm pleased to see a report come out that's not redacted. And having the commentary on Oranga Tamariki and the sorts of advice that was given at the time is helpful to understanding what was going on.
"I mean, at the beginning of the report it talks about two critical themes and one of them is that the harm caused by isolating the children from the family, friends and society was underplayed, minimised or overlooked by agencies.
"So, that sort of statement, I guess, sums things up. So, it's good now to find what the agencies were thinking, which, you know, the report is pretty critical of."
Children’s charity Barnardos calls for action as a report outlines failings in the so-called Marokopa fugitive case. (Source: 1News)
Robertson said it was easy to be critical in hindsight, "but I think there were lessons [to be learned], or certainly the inquiry pulls no punches in saying there were some things that weren't done terribly well".
Robertson said while the report was also critical of aspects of the police operation to find Phillips and his children, he had a good relationship with police through the ordeal.
"They were alerting me or advising me on incidents as they went on. They were usually public incidents. So I felt very well briefed by the police and I felt for them in terms of their frustration through that time in trying to find Tom Phillips."
He said the report gave more detail what police were doing with NZ Defence Force and SAS involvement.
"I guess we all understood what the police were doing or trying to do in their frustrations. What we didn't know was the Oranga Tamariki side of the story.
"Those were the gaps that the public, and certainly I, you know, found through the four years."
The IPCA ruled the officer acted in self-defence after Phillips shot and critically wounded another officer. (Source: 1News)
Robertson welcomed the formal apology to the maternal whānau and older siblings of the Phillips children.
"I'm really pleased to see an apology to the children from the Minister [Louise Upston] on behalf of the Crown, because this report does highlight some inadequacies and I think it's only proper that there is an apology."
Robertson said the local community was still digesting the findings.
"Look, I think it's too early to say [what the reaction is]. I've sat down and worked through the report.
"I think the conclusion is that, you know, the government departments needed to work better together."
Phillips first went missing with his three children for 18 days in September 2021 before disappearing again in December of the same year.
He was killed in a shootout with police last year.
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