O'Connor Damien: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 12 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14609. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman): No options Mr Chairman! Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Twenty years and 1 week Mr Chairman thank you. Can I just say that we have to welcome into the House the major amendment to or the replacement of the 1992 legislation. That is what we are doing here. The Minister of Labour was probably still in nappies when the legislation came into being in 1992 I would suggest. So it is important that he take note and understand what the environment was when the legislation the Mines Rescue Trust Act was passed in 1992.It was an environment where the Government was determined to suppress grassroots worker representation across the board. As we have seen of course the Health and Safety in Employment Act was totally inappropriate for the health and safety regime for mines. Indeed in spite of the Mines Rescue Trust Act providing support for the organisation through the years when the heat really came on and when the Act needed to be tested it failed.What we are doing here is putting in place the proper provisions as recommended by the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy to give both authority and responsibility to the mines rescue organisation. I was fortunate enough to be invited along to the opening of the new facility the base for the Mines Rescue Trust which indeed is referred to in the legislation It has been opened up at Rapahoe just north of Rūnanga and will form a very well-resourced base for mines and emergency rescue training for not only underground miners but also tunnellers and people who up and down the country are putting themselves into high-risk situations.Can I follow on from my colleague Mr Little who referred to perhaps one of the most frustrating things that occurred in the aftermath of the initial Pike River explosion and that was the frustration of the miners who volunteered to be part of the mines rescue organisation. They train and they pride themselves on having the highest levels of skills and knowledge in underground mining and rescue conditions. They were blocked from participating in any kind of rescue by what they saw as a bunch of shinybums sitting up here in Wellington—people sitting here in Wellington in their little offices making decisions about what was best for the minute-by-minute operations that were occurring at the Pike River mine. That frustration should never be allowed to be repeated—never.The hesitation the ignorance the bad decision-making that occurred here in Wellington—sometimes for political reasons but for whatever reasons they were wrong—blocked the wisdom the experience and the commitment of those people on the ground. I do not know whether it was safe or unsafe to try any re-entry or to take any action. It is not for me to make the judgment. But the fact that those people involved in the mines rescue operation were blocked from any real participation was a frustration that I am sure will be spelt out in the book that has just been launched. I have started to read it but I have not had time to get through it. I know that it was a constant constant frustration.I did smile however when massive—of course—media arrived in Greymouth and wanted half-daily updates I guess from those people who were leading the rescue at the time. People knew of Trevor Watts and Miles Cutbush and Glen down there—they are I guess the heart and soul of Mines Rescue Trust. They knew that Trevor was involved or was asked for opinions. Of course there came the obvious need for someone who knew about the situation to front the media.By this time there were a whole lot of flash uniforms there were a whole lot of flash politicians and there were a whole lot of flash people fronting the media and Trevor was the one who had to do it. There was some trepidation and uncertainty about how it would happen and in true West Coast style—and I was so proud to be a West Coaster on that day—he fronted what was a very hungry pack of media and he looked straight down the camera and told them exactly as it was. There were no highfaluting terms or ideas or anything—he just told them as it was.That is the way the members of the Mines Rescue Trust operate. They are not there for the glory. They are there to support their mates who work day to day in a risky environment and from time to time will need help—hopefully never again at the level that was needed at Pike River. But there are incidents that occur. These people train to get their mates out and I trust them over any shinybum sitting in Wellington to make the judgment on the right thing to do in a mine incident. And what we have to do—Hon Judith Collins: They said they didn’t want to go in.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: There is one of them sitting over there—classic. Can I say that these people need respect. This piece of legislation the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill gives them autonomy and I guess the authority to get on and do what they do best and that is to rescue people to help people who are in need and to train people so that they have the skills to work in this environment. This is a good part of this bill and I welcome the Government’s commitment to implement one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy and that is to upgrade the authority and organisation of the Mines Rescue Trust.