Families still keen on charges

“To the Pike River families — and New Zealand — we are returning.”

The words many families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River Mine had waited eight years to hear were finally uttered yesterday.

It was Andrew Little, the Government minister who has a portfolio dedicated to the task of re-entry to the mine, who delivered the news to the families at an event at Parliament.

“Re-entry to the Pike River drift is an extraordinarily complex undertaking,” he said.

The site still posed major hazards.

“This has required incredibly robust planning.”

Cabinet this week approved an additional $14 million in funding, taking the total budget for the plan to $36m.

The first major task, breaching the 30m seal inside the drift, is likely to begin in February.

The families still hope former mine boss Peter Whittall could face manslaughter charges.

After the disaster, WorkSafe put together a case that would have brought 12 charges against Whittall, who was Pike River Coal chief executive. The case was dropped after he agreed to pay $3.41m to the families, but the Supreme Court later ruled that was unlawful, and effectively a payment to avoid prosecution.

Little said prosecutions were a matter for police and agencies such as WorkSafe.

Nigel Hampton QC, who represents some of the families, said of the re-entry: “You might well find evidence would possibly indicate the actual cause of the initial explosion, and . . . that might help fill in the chain of proof required to possibly mount a manslaughter prosecution against one or more of the management supervision of the mine at the time.” — Lucy Bennett