Guy Nathan: General Debate 
Guy Nathan: General Debate 
[Volume:669;Page:15742] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 I wish to make some comments about the Pike River mine explosion. I know that everyone in this House will join with me in expressing very sombre thoughts at this time for both the families of the miners and the miners who are trapped in the Pike River mine near Greymouth. There are 24 New Zealanders two Australians two Britons and one South African. Indeed a family from my electorate in Foxton have their son trapped in the mine. Tony and Christine Hoggart from Foxton are down there waiting for any news on David who is a 33-year-old. I have been speaking to them and I know that Parliament will join with me at this very difficult time for all of those families. 
We have a very close-knit mining community in New Zealand and particularly on the West Coast. I am sure that anyone who watched the video footage on TV last night realised it was a very large explosion; it was a very sombre moment. It is amazing to think that Daniel Rockhouse and Russell Smith were able to walk out of that mine and that gives us a glimmer of hope. Drilling has confirmed however that the situation in the mine is very unstable; there is carbon monoxide and methane and very little oxygen. It is a bit of a bleak outlook and indeed I read with interest the comments of the Commissioner of Police Howard Broad who was down there yesterday. We are now in our fifth day of this terrible situation. When we think about it both the Government and all New Zealanders hope for the best but I guess we need to plan for the worst. Currently 65 rescuers who have all the expertise and 30 logistical support personnel are on site. Backing up that support we have the multi-agency and organisational support based in Greymouth. 
Flowing from this event of course are the thoughts from international shores and also the support given. As we speak that support is coming from Australia. It has sent a robot which it is due to arrive shortly or may even be on site. A back-up robot is coming from the United States as well. So there is very strong international support for what is a very dreadful and awkward situation. 
We can only imagine the feeling of those families who wait for any news. Of course the Prime Minister has been down there a couple of times to support those families and support the community. We have the Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee down there on site and we also have the West Coast - Tasman MP Chris Auchinvole down there. 
It is interesting to note that there is a huge amount of community support in that area. I was interested to hear that students from the local polytech who had just recently passed their certification to become chefs are now churning out 100 meals a day for people involved in this incident. Apparently there is a lot of home baking rolling in as well. 
It is also important to realise that New Zealand has a long very successful history in the coalmining industry. An incident like this is dreadful for the industry and also for New Zealand but we will recover and we will learn from it. The Prime Minister has said that there will be an inquiry. There may end up being several inquiries—I do not want to pre-empt those—but it is worthwhile drawing the House’s attention to Government order of the day No. 26 on the Order Paper where there is a bill under my name the Inquiries Bill which is intended to replace the current Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908. The bill modernises that Act. It might be that the Government at some point in the near future chooses to make progress on this bill. In conclusion my heart and thoughts go out to those family members.