Labour promises bill on Pike River re-entry

Labour leader Andrew Little has promised to table a bill in Parliament to help re-entry to the Pike River mine drift.

Little visited the access road where families have been protesting Solid Energy sealing the West Coast mine – in which 29 men were killed in a 2010 explosion – since November 12.

A Labour government would get the families’ experts and Solid Energy’s experts together with the aim of coming up with a plan for re-entry, he said.

‘‘The only excuse the Government has given so far for not helping the families get re-entry to the drift of the mine is they are concerned about liability of the directors. Well, we can fix that through legislation.’’

National had promised the victims’ families it would do everything possible to get their men back, Little said.

‘‘Let’s work with the families and see what we can do.

‘‘If the Government is genuine in fulfilling its promise, why wouldn’t they sit around the table and get the experts talking to each other and see what’s possible?’’

If his bill was rejected, he would put it into the private member’s ballot.

Little, who was head of miners’ union at the time of the explosion, said claims he could have done more to ensure health and safety at the mine were ‘‘extremist’’.

‘‘I absolutely stand by our track record on improving health and safety.’’