Peter MacDonald
Nearly four years after vanishing into the New Zealand bush with his three children, Tom Phillips remains one of the country’s most elusive figures. For police, he is a wanted man: an alleged armed fugitive who has defied custody orders and is allegedly involved in a bank robbery. For his family, he is a father, deeply loved and missed, whose decision was born from conviction rather than recklessness. And for those who look closer, his case exposes profound tensions in New Zealand’s family law system and rural culture.
A Father’s Motivation
When Phillips disappeared with Ember, Maverick and Jayda in December 2021, it was widely framed as a custody dispute gone too far. Yet the fact that the children have stayed with him for years, despite multiple sightings where they had opportunities to break away, suggests they are not unwilling captives. From the October 2023 encounter with teenage hunters, one child’s words stand out: when asked if anyone knew they were there, the reply was simply, “Only you.”
This loyalty points to something deeper: Phillips believes he is protecting his children, not harming them. His choice to take them into the wilderness reflects love and conviction, not impulse.
The Custody Question
In New Zealand, as in many Westminster-style systems, custody overwhelmingly goes to mothers. Statistics show that around 60–65 per cent of day-to-day care orders are awarded to mothers alone, with only 10 per cent or so granted to fathers. Shared arrangements remain relatively low at about 20 per cent.
While researchers argue that this reflects existing caregiving roles rather than outright bias, the perception among fathers is clear: the system is stacked against them. Phillips, facing the prospect of losing his children to their mother, may have felt he had no viable legal route to remain their primary caregiver.
Survival in the New Zealand Bush
Disappearing for weeks in the bush is difficult enough: doing so for years with three children is extraordinary. The New Zealand wilderness is no gentle landscape: dense, tangled, wet and dangerous, even for seasoned trampers. Hunters and hikers are routinely rescued or lost. Many tourists over the years have just simply disappeared never to be found again...That Phillips has kept his family alive points to formidable bushcraft.
As a skilled builder, he would be capable of creating layered shelter systems.
- Short-term thicket shelters for concealment.
- Semi-permanent huts built from bush materials.
- Potentially underground or dug in shelters, camouflaged to evade detection and food caches.
Such hideouts would be virtually invisible to aerial searches. Even thermal imaging from helicopters struggles under heavy canopy or with insulated underground shelters.
Food, too, is a challenge. The King Country region is rich in wild pigs, rabbits and deer. Phillips is skilled in hunting with a rifle, which he uses for survival and sustenance. He may also be receiving indirect support from sympathisers, most likely in the form of hidden food caches to supplement his diet. This method avoids direct contact and minimising the risk of being followed or detected, while providing essential supplies to sustain the family over the long term. In addition, the New Zealand bush contains a wealth of edible plants and natural foodstuffs, knowledge that has traditionally been guarded and passed down, such as the bush food expertise gifted to the New Zealand Army during World War II by a Māori tribe. This knowledge was later compiled into army survival manuals and is still taught today. Phillips appears to possess a similar understanding, allowing him to gather and supplement his family’s diet effectively.
Allegations and Public Perception
In 2023, Phillips’ situation shifted when police alleged he was involved in a bank robbery in Te Kuiti. However, no compelling evidence has been made public. The available CCTV images show indistinct figures that could be many people, but nothing that clearly identifies Phillips. No forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony has tied him directly to the crime.
Despite this, the allegation has been enough to reframe him in the public eye from a father resisting a custody order to an ‘armed fugitive’. This shift changes how he is portrayed in the media and how police justify large-scale operations to find him. It also discourages community sympathy, even though the central issue of custody and his survival with the children in the bush remains unresolved.
A Clash of Systems
Ultimately, the Phillips case is about more than one man and his children. It highlights a clash between:
- The family law system, where custody outcomes are statistically stacked toward mothers.
- Rural survivalist culture, where fathers see themselves as protectors against intrusive state authority.
- State enforcement, which paints non-compliance as criminality rather than conviction.
Phillips’ decision is not easily dismissed as lawlessness. It is an act of love, shaped by his belief that the system would take away what mattered most. The fact he has sustained his children in one of the harshest environments in New Zealand only underscores his determination.
Four years on, the story of Tom Phillips is not simply about a fugitive. It is about a father who refused to surrender his children, a family caught in the crossfire and a country grappling with the unresolved tension between law, love and survival.
