It's been nearly four weeks since the story broke about a baby being abandoned outside a Northland pub while its mother played the pokies - but no-one can say who the baby was.

No official agency has conducted a formal investigation into the baby's welfare, and the pokie machine trust involved said there's no evidence to say the baby ever existed.

Glen Dick, the landlord of Rawene's Masonic Hotel, had told media got rid of his pokies after discovering the baby on the footpath outside his pub while the mother was inside his pokie room.

But Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer said a report commissioned from a specialist CCTV analytics company showed those events never happened.

However, Dick stood by his version of events and said he's been subjected to "trial by media".

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MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/STUFF Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer.

Despite that, Cheer said he was astounded that there appears to have been no official effort to locate the baby, whose identity remains unknown.

Neither the Department of Internal Affairs, Oranga Tamariki or police have a formal enquiry in process and Dick said he hadn't been contacted by any agency to ask what he knew of the baby.

"What seemed to be forgotten by everybody was there was supposed to be a baby at the centre of all this," Cheersaid.

"While the matter is now closed as far as Pub Charity is concerned, I remain stunned that while there was no shortage of people willing to speak to the media or comment on social media, as far as I am aware, Pub Charity is the only agency that even looked into the matter and enquired after the wellbeing of that mother and child."

Cheer said they wanted to identify the woman and child but said their investigation "found nothing to corroborate" the story.

"All I can say is that it did happen," Dick said. "A lot of the locals around here know who the person is and know it happened. I wouldn't make anything like that up."

Another pokies boss, Mike Knell, chief executive of New Zealand Community Trust, said the story had become about poker machines, and not the baby.

"Until it is determined otherwise that the baby doesn't exist, where is the police and the agencies in this?

"Only a few years ago, we were talking about Baby Moko [Moko Rangitoheriri, who died in 2015 after extensive abuse by foster carers] and the Coronial enquiry where Judge Becroft said there were ample warning signs that may have led to the saving of a life. It should be the first priority of everyone.

"This story is getting drowned in poker machines; but where is the baby? Where is the police? And have they determined there was a baby and if so, get the agencies to help the mother and child. I am appalled the story is clouded by poker machines, and not the welfare of a baby at risk and a young mother who potentially needs a lot of help."

Knell said if the baby was proven not to exist, then the public and media had been "duped" into praising Dick as a hero.

Dick was praised after describing pokies as something which "destroyed families" and "aren't worth the headache for us. We don't want that sort of behaviour in our community".

Cheer subsequently said the machines were switched off because Dick was late to bank the money from them, an allegation Dick disputed.

Cheer has forwarded a report from Pinnacle Security Consultants, analysing a month's work of CCTV footage from the pub in Rawene, in the Far North, to the Department of Internal Affairs asking them to investigate further. The DIA have declined.

He added that the Pinnacle report studied every interaction between Dick and any female customer who appeared to be under the age of 50 on four cameras which between them cover the main bar and the poker machine room.

The report stated there was no vision of an incident involving a baby, but also that there was no footage of Dick going into the pokie room and cashing out a female client in the way he had described in a series of interviews across various media.

Cheer said Dick's original story changed to say he left the baby outside - beyond the range of the cameras - but that the poker machine cameras showed the rest of his story was untrue.

He added that when he asked Dick about the baby, he was told he shouldn't worry as the machines being turned off had solved the problem.

Cheer said independent enquiries should be made, as he could be seen to have a conflict of interest.

Dick said he wanted the story to go away and to concentrate on rebuilding his business.

"In all honesty we are not commenting, we don't want anything to go much further - all this publicity is Pub Charity trying to discredit us as much as they can because they see us as a threat, and all we are trying to do now is carry on and rebuild our business.

"It's a bit sad that it is trial by media, but we've been advised to let Pub Charity have their hissy fit and blow off steam and we will carry on and not comment. All they are trying to do is find anything they can to ruin our business. We have had personal messages of support from other people who are in the same situation with Pub Charity's bullying tactics. I hope [this story] doesn't go any further."

If Dick had made a call to Oranga Tamariki's 24-hour helpline, that would have automatically triggered a child welfare investigation.

Oranga Tamariki said it had "not received a report of concern. If anyone in the community has concerns about this child we would encourage them to contact police or call us. We want to ensure the child is safe and provide whatever support is needed."

Asked why he didn't call authorities, Dick said: "No, well, it happens everywhere, kids left outside in cars everywhere at nearly every venue and they don't ring the cops on it ... I look back at things and there are things I could probably have done differently that day."

He said he didn't know the woman personally but knew she was local.

"Locals are saying don't worry about it, we know the person, everyone knows who she is and we can't believe it is someone from here."

The Department of Internal Affairs confirmed it had received Pub Charity's report, but would not investigate. "As the Rawene Hotel is no longer a gambling venue, DIA has no further role in the incident."

Police said that they had received no complaint but "were making enquiries to better understand [the] circumstances".