The Phillips Kids Are Home. What Did the Report Find?
The Government released the final report on the disappearance of the Phillips children on 15 September 2026. It apologised and agreed to follow the report's advice.
The apology was to the children. The Government said "we are deeply sorry", according to RNZ RNZ.
The case is about Tom Phillips and his three children. Phillips took the children in September 2021 and stayed away for 18 days despite large searches. He died in a shootout with police on 8 September 2025 after police were called to reports of a burglary. Phillips was shot and the children were brought home safe, Police said Police statement.
Attorney-General Judith Collins ordered an independent check, called a Public Inquiry, on 27 November 2025 Beehive. Louise Upston was the minister in charge of the inquiry. The final report was handed over on 21 July 2026 and given to the Governor-General's office. The Attorney-General later gave the inquiry one extra month to finish.
The report said NZ Police and Oranga Tamariki should have worked together better. Oranga Tamariki is the government agency that looks after children at risk. Better teamwork could have stopped the children going missing and brought them home sooner. Like neighbours looking for a lost dog without sharing notes, the two agencies did not share enough. The report said worries raised by the children's maternal whānau were played down or missed for long periods. It also said the harm from Phillips keeping the children away from family, friends and society was played down, the Government said Beehive.
In May 2023, a woman had Phillips in her car. She took his photo, saw his children, and rang police. Police never came. Officers sent to the call were sent to a family harm incident instead. The call was later written down as 'no further action required'. Police could not explain to the inquiry why no follow-up was ordered.
In November 2023, while the children were still missing, the main police team was cut to three people. Police had a plan for how to arrest Phillips if he was seen. That plan was never passed to police comms staff or to officers on the ground most likely to meet him.
An August report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority was also critical of communication between police bosses and officers on the ground before Phillips was shot. The Authority is the group outside police that checks police actions. In a separate finding, it said a police officer was right to shoot Phillips in self-defence. Police accepted that on 20 August 2026.
Police had earlier shared details of the staff and gear used in the search. They said search teams found what are thought to be the family's main campsites.
Both agencies said they accept what the inquiry found. NZ Police said it accepts the findings and the advice, and put out a statement on 15 September 2026. Oranga Tamariki said it accepts the advice.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and Oranga Tamariki chief executive Amanda Malu called the failures missed opportunities. They said they had not offered to resign. Chambers became Police Commissioner about 10 months before Phillips died.
The broader context here is that the focus has moved from the search to what happens next. Ministers have taken responsibility for the advice and both chief executives are staying in their jobs. The test will be whether Police and Oranga Tamariki work together differently in practice, through agency plans and reports back to Cabinet.
