Moroney Sue: Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMoroney Sue: Underground Coal Mining Safety Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4729. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SUE MORONEY (Labour): It is a pleasure to rise in support of this bill put forward by my colleague the Hon Damien O’Conner. If only what the last speaker Sarah Dowie said was true. If only events actually had made this an irrelevant debate for this Parliament—I would be fine with that. I would be ecstatic about that because that would mean that workers in workplaces particularly the most dangerous workplace of New Zealand—mines—would be safe. But sadly that is not the case and that is why we are debating this very important bill. That Government opposite has not seen fit to make this issue a priority as it should be.I recall speaking on one of the readings of the bill that the Government has passed with regard to mines safety and I remember imploring this Government to never forget what we have learnt from the Pike River mine and the tragedy that unfolded there. I remember also saying to those members: “Please don’t do what I think this Parliament is guilty of doing in forgetting the Cave Creek tragedy and all the lessons that we learnt from that particular series of tragic events.” It appears to me that the National Government is going to go down that same path again. It forgot about what it learnt from the tragedy of not having strong enough regulations when it came to Cave Creek and it is about to do it again with regard to what the royal commission has told us about the outcomes of the Pike River mine tragedy and it is not even that very long ago.As many speakers in this debate have said on the West Coast where my good colleague Damien O’Connor is the MP and represents that area particularly well it is just as though it happened yesterday. It is just as though that tragic event happened yesterday for the people of the West Coast and the Government is already forgetting the lessons. We know that it is forgetting the lessons because it is holding up the Health and Safety Reform Bill at the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee—it is really clear that that is what is occurring. There is disagreement in the ranks of the National Government. Members cannot seem to get their act together around this. The Government is falling apart around this issue. Meanwhile the people of the West Coast wait. Meanwhile the people in workplaces up and down the land wait for the National Party to try to get its act together so that we can ensure that workers return home safely after they have been to work.I agree with the person who spoke from New Zealand First because actually this issue does surpass what one gets paid at work. There is no point getting a great wage at work if you cannot actually perform the function safely. If you are not going to make it home to your family there is no point in what the size of the pay cheque is. This issue of health and safety should be paramount and it should be at the forefront of that Government’s thinking. It should be a priority for Government members but what are they doing? Instead they are voting against this legislation and they also watered down the legislation that came from the royal commission where the commission said that the legislation should have also have covered quarry workers. National watered that down and we saw the sorry consequences of that just a few weeks ago and it is doing the same thing with the Health and Safety Reform bill. It is attempting to water that piece of legislation down.Chris Bishop: How would you know?SUE MORONEY: Well I would know because I am on the select committee actually Mr Bishop. That is how I would know. That Government is attempting to water down the legislation and that member will know this because he is in the National Party caucus where they have been debating how they are going to water down the recommendations from the royal commission. That is right. The recommendations of the royal commission have become an item for debate in the National Party caucus because those members cannot agree on whether they think workers’ health and safety particularly in the dangerous workplace of mines should be paramount or not.I just recently learnt that my husband’s great-grandfather who was an MP for the Ōhinemuri area did several good pieces of legislation to ensure that the miners in that community were made safe many many decades ago. To me it is an absolute travesty that I am standing here debating the same issues that are still not addressed and thanks to that National Government will continue not to be addressed.