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Which entity or entities does he expect will investigate the environmental damage and impacts to communities, culture and businesses caused by the Moa Point failure, given he has excluded those matters from the Crown Review Teams' terms of reference? and 2 other questions

Answered 12122, 12123, 12124 (2026)
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Asked by

Tangi Utikere

Member for Palmerston North · Labour Party

Questions

  • 12122

    Which entity or entities does he expect will investigate the environmental damage and impacts to communities, culture and businesses caused by the Moa Point failure, given he has excluded those matters from the Crown Review Teams' terms of reference?

  • 12123

    What consideration, if any, was given to Mayor Little's request before he decided to limit the Review Teams' focus to the events leading up to the Moa Point incident?

  • 12124

    Why did he decide to exclude environmental damage and community, cultural and business impacts from the scope of the Crown Review Teams, despite Mayor Andrew Little explicitly requesting those matters be included?

Answered by

Hon Simon Watts

Member for North Shore · National Party · Minister of Local Government

Answer

The Greater Wellington Regional Council, as the environmental regulator, is responsible for monitoring resource consent compliance under the Resource Management Act 1991, it is investigating the environmental impacts of the Moa Point failure. The Environment Protection Authority is providing oversight of the Regional Council’s investigation. The Crown Review Team was established to examine the events leading up to the Moa Point incident of 4 February 2026, and to provide assurance to me, the incoming water services organisation — Tiaki Wai, and the public. The terms of reference were informed by a range of inputs, including from the Mayor of Wellington City Council. Environmental and community impacts were not included in the scope of the Crown Review Team’s terms of reference, as this would duplicate the Regional Council’s statutory functions and unnecessarily extend the Review, at additional cost to Wellington ratepayers.