Hague Kevin: General Debate 
Hague Kevin: General Debate 
[Volume:676;Page:21736] 
KEVIN HAGUE (Green) 
: 
 The date of 26 November marks election day for us but I want to talk about an anniversary that will occur 1 week before then on 19 November. That will be the anniversary of the first explosion in the Pike River coal mine. 
From my kitchen window I look out to a view of the Paparoa mountains and I am conscious every day of the 29 men who still lie underneath those mountains entombed in the mine. I am conscious of the efforts that still need to be made to recover the bodies and remains of those men in order for their families to find some kind of closure and in order for my community—the West Coast community—to reach some sort of closure. I reflect on the sad history here—and I referred to some of that in question time today—of Pike River mine management being told in December that it was politically unacceptable to refer to “recovery” being given the impression that recovery was no longer on the agenda and being given only half of the resources required for a recovery operation. 
That evidence before the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy was given further credence by the Government’s decision in January to transfer responsibility for the mine from the police to the receiver. The receiver of course is bound to some strict statutory rules that require it to work in the interests of shareholders meaning that the recovery of bodies would occur only incidentally to a commercial decision to reopen that mine. 
Clearly the Government has rethought that and I pay tribute to Bernie Monk and to the Pike River families for having achieved that Government rethink. The Government has indicated that it may well tag the mining licence to require the recovery of bodies if that is acceptable and that it may well contribute to funding the cost of that recovery operation. I give notice to the Government that I will be looking at the small print in those undertakings because it seems to me that given the Government’s track record it may well look to escape from the commitments that the families believe have been made to them. 
One of the other issues is the payment of creditors and there has been some progress on that front too. There has been a very belated and very partial payment to creditors. That is better than nothing but it is still far short of adequate. It still needs further work. 
I want to praise the Government for its action in establishing the royal commission of inquiry. As far as I can see—and I have been present at around one-third of the hearings so far—the royal commission appears to be doing an extremely good job of its task of attempting to discover the causes of the disaster and related matters. I do not want to canvass those same issues. I just express my deep sorrow that the Government decided not to fund the Mines Rescue service to be able to participate fully in that process. I believe that that is also indicative of the Government’s attitude towards this issue. 
I want to focus in particular on the issue of regulatory reform. As this is the last general debate on one of our last sitting days here in this House in this forty-ninth Parliament I want to reflect on the particular courses I have been following in the House in question time. I believe that this disaster has demonstrated the inadequacy of our infrastructure for mine safety and I praise the Government for its action in instituting the High Hazards Unit. I believe there is still some progress to be made on the reinstatement of check inspectors in mines and the High Hazards Unit is a good start. 
But I believe that the Government also needs to take action now on regulatory reform and not wait until the royal commission reports. We have heard a catalogue of woes about this mine: inadequate drainage unsafe drilling practices unfamiliarity of managers with mine layout inadequate evacuation drills no fresh air base and above all this disastrous emergency exit that is impossible to use. The regulatory framework that has allowed those issues to develop in that mine is what guarantees safety in other mines.