Newly released papers raise fresh questions over Prime Minister John Key's claim that Solid Energy asked for $1 billion of taxpayers' money to fund its transformation into a massive resources company.

Solid Energy ex-chairman John Palmer opposed Treasury's wish to appoint an independent advisor to the company's board last year.

Solid Energy chairman Mark Ford says the struggling energy group - which is to cut another 105 jobs - is a "very different company'' to what it was a year ago.

Solid Energy has confirmed it will shed 105 jobs as it restructures in a bid to stay viable.

Upset families of the 29 men killed at Pike River "cannot accept" findings of a report that absolves government employees of any blame for the 2010 tragedy.

Former Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder will pocket more than $250,000 from the indebted state-owned miner while he remains on its payroll for another four months.

Were senior Cabinet ministers asleep at the wheel? Did they fail to step in soon enough when problems at Solid Energy were apparent? John Armstrong investigates.

The Gt kept insisting that Solid Energy would be part of its asset sales plan long after it had been informed of its declining health and unacceptable debt, official documents show.

Labour and its leader David Shearer have had a boost in support in the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey - but it appears to have come at the expense of its potential coalition allies.

John Palmer's last act as Solid Energy's chairman was to announce the bad news: the state-owned enterprise had posted a $40.2 million net loss for the 2011-12 financial year on the back of major asset writedowns.

Editorial: If anything useful has been learned from the Labour Party's pursuit of Solid Energy, it is that there are severe limits to the present Government's asset sales.

Like the church, business is best led by a responsible few, says John Roughan.

Prime Minister John Key this morning released documents detailing Solid Energy's ambitious expansion plans.

Prime Minister John Key is facing claims he misled the public after former Solid Energy chairman John Palmer said the company resisted Government pressure to take on more debt - the very thing the Prime Minister said caused the company's problems.

Former Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder says the main reason for the company's near failure was "a stunning blow" in the form of "an unprecedented collapse in coal prices".

Former Solid Energy chairman John Palmer has told MPs he opposed the Government's 2009 direction that the state owned coal miner take on more debt.

Since the 1980s, too, successive Governments have become increasingly high-handed, and ideologically driven, writes Anne Salmond.

Ex-Solid Energy chairman John Palmer will be grilled on whether pressure from the Government for the company to borrow contributed to its near-collapse last month.

Prime Minister John Key says he would be amazed if any surprises emerged from former Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder's appearance before a select committee tomorrow.

Both of the men who steered state coal miner Solid Energy to the brink of financial ruin will tomorrow face MPs questions about their oversight and management of the company.

The fundamental conflict between the Govt's political imperatives and Solid Energy's commercial imperatives needs to be probed further, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Former Solid Energy boss Don Elder has confirmed he will go to Parliament to answer questions about the company's problems.

The former head of Solid Energy has been called to front up to a parliamentary committee to answer questions on the failing coal company after opposition was dropped.