\u201cI would not have allowed access to what was an active crime scene and had not been aware that was happening ahead of time. Had I known it was to happen, I would have stopped that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am also disappointed the documentary team was told ahead of the family, and of other media, about the events of the night Tom Phillips died.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillips children were found in early September last year after being missing with their father for four years. The saga ended when Tom Phillips was shot and killed in an early morning shootout with police on September 8.<\/p>\n
Almost 300 pages of emails, text messages and other documents have today been released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, highlighting how the documentary came to life, and the producers\u2019 various interactions with police since 2024. Internal police emails have also been released.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy view is that access should now end given [Operation] Curly is closed,\u201d Chambers told several senior staff in an internal email on September 24. <\/p>\n
In the days after that, documentary maker Dame Julie Christie wrote to Chambers, encouraging him to consider \u201ca lengthy \u2018pause\u2019 over any other action\u201d.<\/p>\n
One of Tom Phillips’ campsites in the Waikato bush.<\/p>\n
The documents confirm earlier reports that Christie was given an early heads-up that Phillips had been shot.<\/p>\n
Police director of media and strategic communications Juli Clausen texted Christie at 6.14am on September 8: \u201cI\u2019m on a flight to Hamilton now\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to give u a heads up.. T [redacted] were involved in another burglary this morning. T has been shot – we have [redacted] We will do media but every man n dog there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The link to Phillips was not officially announced to the public for several hours.<\/p>\n
At 7.04am, police issued a media statement saying they were responding to a serious incident in western Waikato but gave no specific details, saying they would be provided \u201cas they become available\u201d.<\/p>\n
At 9am, police reported one man had died, and a police officer had been injured in an overnight incident. Phillips\u2019 link was officially announced at an 11am press conference.<\/p>\n
In the days following, it became clear that Christie\u2019s production crew – later revealed to be working on the documentary destined for Netflix – were being granted special access beyond police cordons.<\/p>\n
Police came in for criticism from several quarters, including competing media organisations.<\/p>\n
Today, police said: \u201cIt has become apparent that the media were not served well, as should be expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice [are] now reviewing the processes around the management of this documentary, and considering whether we need to reassess the protocols for handling such projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chambers\u2019 early support<\/p>\n
Chambers supported the making of the documentary, having met Christie at police national headquarters in late 2024, and referring it to his media and communications team. <\/p>\n
\u201cI consistently supported the documentary as a way to highlight the work police was doing in the search for Tom Phillips,\u201d Chambers said today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were strict conditions in place to protect the children and sensitive police operational information. I believed it was an important story to tell and that this format was a good one to allow that to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the information that has now come to light has raised questions about how the documentary project was handled by police.\u201d<\/p>\n
The documents show police started easing back on access in the weeks after Phillips\u2019 death.<\/p>\n
Dame Julie Christie is producing a Tom Phillips documentary. Photo \/ RNZ, Mark Papalii<\/p>\n
On September 15 – a week after Phillips was shot – Christie texted Clausen to ask if one of her crew \u201cmight be able to join the team looking for the other camp?\u201d<\/p>\n
Clausen responded: \u201cI think we need to leave some air space for now. People v sensitive. I\u2019m talking to them tomorrow, hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christie responds: \u201cI respect that, of course. I hope it is realised that all of our shooting shows … how hard the police team always worked to recover those children. It would be disappointing not to be able to complete that story in the best possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she was \u201cgrateful for everything so far\u201d and would keep in touch.<\/p>\n
On September 24, Chambers\u2019 chief media and communications adviser Claire Trevett emailed the commissioner, saying executive-level guidance was required \u201con the appetite for ongoing access to the police operations and staff etc now that Op Curly has wound up\u201d. <\/p>\n
She pointed out the Netflix contract specified Op Curly, and not two other corresponding operations: \u201cThe documentary will be confined to Operation Curly and the search for the missing Phillips children as agreed with the National Criminal Investigation Group, Police Districts and Media and Communications.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers. Photo \/ RNZ, Calvin Samuel<\/p>\n
Chambers responds: \u201cMy view is that access should now end given Curly is closed.\u201d<\/p>\n
On September 26, Christie wrote directly to Chambers seeking a meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I would let you know now that our partners in the Operation Curly documentary feature, Grain TV and Netflix, have agreed to pause filming until legal matters are dealt with and it is agreeable with the New Zealand police to continue. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am hoping that you and your team will also feel that \u2018pausing\u2019, for however long, is the best option. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe began this journey with your staff a year ago, specifically to show that the Operation Curly detectives were doing a lot at a time when they were being heavily criticised by others via daily news media for doing \u2018nothing\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we captured over that period shows how much officers like Andy Saunders and Sally Welch really cared. It\u2019s pretty special. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe scene where you and Mark Mitchell go up to the office and meet them the day after Tom died, and they tell you what they\u2019ve been through, is exceptional. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe specific focus of the documentary remains to tell the story of the Police who cared deeply about these children. That won\u2019t change over time. We are in for the long haul \u2013 which is clear in our contract with you whereby all Courts including Coroners need to be over before we broadcast. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope there will come a time when the story can be told, we don\u2019t know that yet, which is why I am asking you to consider a lengthy \u2018pause\u2019 over any other action.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following two paragraphs are then redacted.<\/p>\n
Later in the letter, she reiterates that she hopes police \u201cwill agree to \u2018pause\u2019 while the future of the project is considered over time\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am very aware that we are privileged to have been given the access we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chambers responds on September 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree your approach to pause is the right one at this time. And I appreciate your position in respect of the matters to which you refer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police have been approached for comment on whether they will sign off the documentary in light of their concerns.<\/p>\n
The documents also outline the police public relations manoeuvres behind the scenes, and as heat was coming on them over the Netflix documentary crew\u2019s access.<\/p>\n
On September 10, Trevett advised Chambers: \u201cThere have been several phone calls from media objecting to the lack of access behind the cordon, given the documentary crew\u2019s access – and a formal request from NZME for access behind the cordons (with negotiations over terms and conditions around use of material).\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she had spoken to Clausen \u201cabout assessing with the investigating team whether it is viable to offer some restricted access in the near future, likely on a pooled basis (one video, one stills photographer), with Police need to approve final footage\/ photos prior to use.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another internal email, Trevett states, \u201cthis doco stuff has blown up a bit\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Julie C and Karen R about police putting out a statement to highlight the specific safeguards that the agreement includes and to clarify that they have not been given any access that involved filming the children etc.\u201d<\/p>\n
On September 12, she advises Clausen in terms of media comment on the documentary: \u201cNo further comment beyond emphasising there was no access to anything involving the children and police have strong control over the content. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can clarify in more detail what the doco film crew were doing behind the cordons on the day they went in, it might be helpful \u2013 as in were they permitted to the campsites still being investigated, was it just at the sight of the cars\/quad, was it after the investigation into the cars\/quad was completed, measures to ensure they did not disturb the investigation.”<\/p>\n
The documentary<\/p>\n
The Netflix production crew in Marokopa. Photo \/ RNZ, Mark Papalii<\/p>\n
The documentary \u2013 expected to be between 90 minutes and two hours long \u2013 is being produced by Christie\u2019s NHNZ Worldwide production company and UK-based Grain Media Ltd. It has the working title The Marokopa Project.<\/p>\n
The documentary is not expected to screen until 2027 at the earliest. <\/p>\n
Christie and her production crew received exclusive access behind police cordons as officers investigated Phillips\u2019 four years on the run and the shootout that led to his death.<\/p>\n
Her documentary came under media scrutiny earlier in 2025 about whether it should even proceed \u2013 and if police should have continued to give exclusive access to producers in light of the shootout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this documentary needs to be killed off immediately,\u201d Newstalk ZB host Heather du Plessis-Allan said at the time, raising concerns around Phillips\u2019 children.<\/p>\n
Christie herself was at the cordoned-off scene of the Phillips confrontation in Waikato, alongside several members of her documentary crew, including at least one camera operator and former TV3 journalist Karen Rutherford.<\/p>\n
One journalist told Media Insider at the time that members of the crew had been allowed through the cordon and, for at least two hours, were working at the scene where Phillips shot a police constable at close range, before the father-of-three was shot dead by other officers.<\/p>\n
The crew had also been given up-close, exclusive access to senior officers during the day, the journalist said.<\/p>\n
In a text message to the Herald in September, Christie said, \u201cI\u2019ve been doing police follow docs for 32 years. We\u2019ve been working on this one all year and through much of the investigation. It\u2019s really important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contract reveals police editing powers<\/p>\n