Editorial: Involving Pike families a crucial move

Minister for Pike River, Andrew Little with families of the Pike River Miners. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It is clear from the Coalition Cabinet's decisions on Monday that nobody should be holding their breath for a manned re-entry of the Pike River mine.

The Cabinet has agreed to place the abandoned mine under the management of a new agency that will be given three objectives. The first, gather evidence about what may have caused the explosion. The second, give victims' loved ones "closure and peace of mind". Third, "if possible recover any human remains".

This is not exactly the undertaking in Labour's and NZ First's coalition agreement last month which stated simply "Commit to re-entry to Pike River", but it is the only sensible course now that the Government undoubtedly has received the same advice the previous Government heeded on the risks involved.

More important, the families who have not been able to let their loved ones rest sound happy with the decisions so far. They have been reassured they will be consulted by the new agency at every step. But it is clear they still expect nothing less than a manned re-entry.

Anne Osborne, whose husband died in the mine, greeted Monday's announcement as "a transparent and inclusive process" and agreed safety comes first. But she added, "That's because we are confident this can be done safely and have local and international experts who are just as confident."

Bernie Monk, who lost his son, said, "after seven years of stalling and being fobbed off by the last Government, we're now making great strides towards re-entering the drift and recovering remains and evidence".

The last Government certainly did raise the families' hopes at times and received the same sort of praise the new Government has received. If the families are to be reconciled eventually to the impossibility of safely re-entering the mine, they will need to be intimately involved with the agency's work. It will not be enough to give them briefings in Greymouth as the previous Government did when it had progress (or lack of it) to report. The families will need to be treated almost like a board of directors for the agency, not with the power to tell it what to do but to be part of its discussions in deciding what to do.

The agency will take over the mine from Solid Energy before its liquidation in March next year. It will then be responsible for maintaining the mine's infrastructure and for its safety while re-entry is under consideration. If it decides the risks can be mitigated, the decision to take the risks will rest with Andrew Little, now designated Minister for Pike River Re-entry. If it happens, he expects it to be in the latter half of next year, possibly by the next anniversary on November 19.

At last Sunday's anniversary, Little gave the families a key to the gate of the road to the mine entrance that was locked against them when they went to protest at Solid Energy's plans to seal the entrance.

Little's gesture was a good first step to giving the grieving a sense of shared ownership of the mine that is now a tomb for 29 men. It will be important they can feel shared responsibility for whatever happens.