Christopher Luxon announced the possibility during a media conference on Tuesday afternoon, and said many questions about last Thursday's slip were being asked, including whether there was a missed opportunity to evacuate people sooner.
"Six families are grieving the unimaginable loss of their loved ones, and they deserve answers. I acknowledge that the Tauranga City Council has ordered its own inquiry into the events leading up to the landslide at the campground.
"However, I do believe there is a strong case for an independent government inquiry, and we'll be talking to Tauranga City Council about that."
Luxon said it would be important not only for the grieving families but for helping to ensure lessons were learned to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
While an independent inquiry had already been announced by local council, Luxon said there were concerns it would not be impartial if it was conducted by the council.
"There's a potentially an inherent conflict between the ownership of the campground and the council, but it's also coming from conversations directly with the families that Mark and I had in the last 48 hours with people in Tauranga at the Mount, and their big desires to actually understand what did happen here.
"I think doing that dispassionately, being able to do that very objectively, through an independent government inquiry would be the way forward."
Conversations would be had with the Tauranga mayor, Luxon said.
During last week's bad weather, Luxon said 500 people had been displaced around the North Island and the government's priority was finding them homes.
"Yesterday, the government activated the temporary accommodation service to help those people access temporary housing."
He said the other big focus was getting supplies to communities still cut off due to road damage.
Luxon praised local marae who had helped in the recovery, especially in Northland.
"Marae have been exceptional in the way they have stepped up to help their communities."
Luxon said Auckland-based MP Chris Penk would support Mark Mitchell in his role as Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery in an Associate Minister position.
Penk had also been asked to collate advice on whether an inquiry into the landslide was needed.
$1.2m for mayoral relief funds
Luxon said the government would make $1.2 million available to mayoral relief funds for affected regions, on top of the annual government contribution already made.
He noted that was about getting money immediately to the five regions that needed it, and was not the "be all, end all" of the funds to come.
"It has been a tough start to the year for many people who have been impacted by the recent weather event across the North Island.
"While this weather event is not of the scale of Cyclone Gabrielle in terms of the number of people affected, for those who have been affected, the impact is significant."
Another $1 million would go to marae that have helped communities in need.
