Andrew Little, the National Secretary of the the miner’s union, the EPMU, has called for a rethink on sealing the Pike River mine as access may be vital to actually finding out what happened.
Of course David Farrar’s response to this is to try to smear Little’s claim as politically motivated:
Is Andrew speaking as Labour Party President or EPMU Secretary when he alleges any decision to seal the mine is part of a plot by the Government to conceal evidence?
One could just as easily ask whether David Farrar was running this smear as a concerned (but ill-informed) citizen who has never set foot in a mine or as a man who owes his living to the National Party.
Unfortunately for David, as he so often does, he’s overreached with his smear by making the ridiculous statement:
Maybe Andrew could explain exactly what evidence he thinks still exists after weeks of thousand degree fires.
You see what David’s doing there? He’s employing irony to show just how ridiculous (and thus politically motivated) Little’s statement is. What a clever chap.
Or it would be clever if it were not for the fact there’s a lot of evidence that is likely to still be available in the mine such as the exact point of detonation, what machinery was at the detonation point, what sort of drill was in use a the time, where transformers and other electrical equipment was positioned, the nature of the seam at the point of explosion, whether there was a subsequent cave-in and if so where it was, the position of the miners and contractors in the mine at the time of the explosion and the condition of the emergency exit shaft.
I’d imagine that those more knowledgeable about mining and forensics would probably be able to add to that list.
I’d also imagine that David would realise this if he’d stopped to think before he wrote. But concern for answers about how this tragedy happened isn’t the point of his post. Rather the point is to smear Little (and anyone else who questions the government’s role in this) because the government has started to come under pressure for not following through on its promises.
David’s desperate frothing is a clear sign that he and the nats (if one can really make a distinction between the two) don’t just want the mine sealed off. They want the whole damn issue sealed off. To the point they’re willing to attack anyone who asks difficult questions.
They need to learn that governing the country means more than just doing a few photo-ops and then washing your hands of the issue.
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