In a statement on Thursday, Little said no-one from the regional council has apologised to Wairoa over its river mouth management.
“Our community has asked for and needs an apology,” he said.
Little quoted HBRC chair Hinewai Ormsby, who said last week: “We can all agree if the mouth could have been opened earlier there would have been far less impact on those communities.”
HBRC’s decision to dig a channel in the bar “came too late”, Little added.
But Ormsby told RNZ last week the HBRC had to consider more than just timing.
“The difficulty and the challenge, which has been long-standing, for the management of the Wairoa mouth opening has been the level in which the riverbed is at versus the swell and tide, and the timings and complexities around getting that right for the sake of human safety… as well as it being successful to actually open it,” she said.
“To move one bucket of shingle and have it fill up with two just minutes later will not be a successful opening.”
Ormsby added the HBRC would review its processes to see if the decision to open the river bar should’ve been made sooner.