Retired High Court judge Justice Simon Moore KC has been appointed sole commissioner of the Public Inquiry into the Disappearance of the Phillips Children and will be paid a daily fee of $1,680 for an eight-hour day (equating to $210 per hour), documents obtained under the Official Information Act confirm.
The rate applies for work of up to four days per week, with payment based on actual hours worked. The inquiry’s total budget is $3.49 million, drawn from the Between-Budget Contingency.
Announced by Attorney-General Judith Collins in late November 2025, the private inquiry into the disappearance of the children with their father, Tom Phillips (pictured) will examine whether government agencies took all practicable steps to safeguard the children’s safety and welfare, with terms of reference extending back to the family’s 2018 involvement with the Family Court.
A final report is due by 21 July 2026.
Proceedings will be held in private, without public hearings, to protect the children’s welfare and navigate existing suppression orders. Crucially, the inquiry is barred from making findings on judicial decisions.
Government advisers explicitly warned that bringing the Family Court itself within scope would “quickly become unwieldy” and risked undermining judicial independence.
