Posts Tagged ‘pike river mine’

What Is This Moment Teaching Us?

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, April 14th, 2020 - 53 comments

What is Covid-19 telling us about our response as a nation?

Pike River re-entry delayed

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, May 3rd, 2019 - 51 comments

Re-entry to the Pike River mine has been delayed so that a high oxygen reading from within the mine can be understood.

The handling of Pike River evidence was diabolical

Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, February 21st, 2019 - 30 comments

The Pike River families have released an internal police document describing the handling of evidence from the crime scene as diabolical.

Pike River mine evidence went missing

Written By: - Date published: 7:52 am, February 18th, 2019 - 74 comments

It has been alleged that a potentially vital piece of evidence in the Pike River mine fatality that may show the cause of the explosion may have gone missing.

Will Andrew Little be responsible if the Pike River mine gets hit by a meteor?

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, November 18th, 2018 - 102 comments

Stacy Kirk has made the outlandish claim that Andrew Little is prepared to risk someone’s life in his desire to have the Pike River mine properly investigated.

Pike River; Victory For the Families, Victory for Us

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, November 14th, 2018 - 121 comments

Pike River mine is to be re-entered and finally the truth will be told. Victory for the 29 is victory for all of us.

The Pike River Supreme Court decision – Helen Kelly would be pleased

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, November 24th, 2017 - 19 comments

Helen Kelly blogged four years ago why the deal that allowed Peter Whittall to walk free following the Pike River disaster was unjust and flawed. Yesterday the Supreme Court agreed.

Pike River – what did the government know and when did they know it?

Written By: - Date published: 12:41 pm, May 1st, 2017 - 34 comments

Bill English claims to have been unaware of the video footage, but the night before Nick Smith’s spokesperson said the government had been “advised”. It would have been extraordinary if they had not. Pike River families deserve the truth.

Government misled families about Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 6:33 pm, April 30th, 2017 - 49 comments

TV3 has released video confirming that the atmosphere in the Pike River Mine was inert and raising major doubts about the claim that the mine was too unsafe to extract the bodies or to investigate the causes.

Andrew Little: Promises to Pike families must be kept

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, November 20th, 2016 - 81 comments

Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the Pike River disaster. Here is a statement released by Andrew Little urging that the mine not be sealed and the deaths of the miners be investigated and their bodies brought home.

On Pike

Written By: - Date published: 3:56 pm, December 12th, 2013 - 97 comments

The decision announced today (but made when?) to withdraw the charges against Pike CEO Peter Whittall cannot be left to rest. When did a Judge of a New Zealand Court participate in a deal where criminal charges were dropped and money paid.  It is insufficient to say the two are not connected.  The money has […]

Crony Capitalism, Chorus and Pike River compensation

Written By: - Date published: 6:41 pm, November 12th, 2013 - 98 comments

Today in Parliament David Cunliffe neatly skewered John Key with a series of questions that showed the Government will decline to ensure that the Pike River families are paid out because there is no legal obligation to do so, yet it is happy to pay out large sums to its corporate friends even though there is no legal obligation to do so.

On the Pike Report

Written By: - Date published: 10:05 pm, November 5th, 2012 - 99 comments

The Pike report is welcome good sense.

But why has it taken the deaths of 29 men to get attention to health and safety regulations in mining?

Does Key give a damn any more?

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, October 10th, 2012 - 29 comments

My old man, a casual observer of politics, said the other day: “John boy doesn’t look like he wants to be there anymore”. I reckon he’s right. Except when he’s doing photo-ops, Key looks ever more grumpy and aloof. No wonder he’s spending so much time overseas. No wonder he’s making such bad decisions like betraying his promise to the Pike River families.

You’ve got to be kidding me

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 pm, January 29th, 2012 - 76 comments

Pike River boss Peter Whittall, the guy facing charges after 29 of his employees died working in his unsafe, ‘profit-over-people’ mine, has set up a mining safety consulting company. What’s next? A Minister of Tourism who always holidays overseas? A Finance Minister who wants to sell highly profitable assets in a down market? … oh … This country is nuts.

Pike River charges laid

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 pm, November 10th, 2011 - 20 comments

Charges have been laid over the Pike River tragedy.

Third world NZ

Written By: - Date published: 10:05 pm, September 5th, 2011 - 123 comments

The stories coming out of the Pike inquiry paint a picture of a company with a basic disregard for workers’s safety.

But we shouldn’t expect anything else after thirty years of putting the interests of business ahead of everyone else.

Bring back check inspectors

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, August 18th, 2011 - 30 comments

Nats have announced 6 more DoL safety inspectors for mines and oil drilling. Up from 2 now (only one position filled). Sounds good but DoL’s failure at Pike River was systematic, not just about numbers. Where’s the stronger safety standards? Why aren’t they bringing back worker-elected check inspectors? The miners want them. Why don’t the Nats listen?

Another deregulation fiasco

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, July 14th, 2011 - 36 comments

A former chief inspector of coal mines yesterday told the Pike River inquiry that the underlying cause of the disaster was the weakening of mining regulations in the 1990s.  Yet another example of the frequent and costly failures of deregulation.  RIP the Pike River miners.

Aussies on Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 pm, June 28th, 2011 - 22 comments

Why is it the Australians are getting better coverage of Pike River than we are?

The Australian, for example, ran a story yesterday asking some hard-hitting questions about safety at the mine including the lack of remote gas measurement and a second escape route.

Schrödinger’s Prime Minister

Written By: - Date published: 2:13 pm, June 24th, 2011 - 5 comments

No Right Turn on John Key’s confusion over Pike River.  The flip flopping PM at his finest.

Government reneges on Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, March 13th, 2011 - 38 comments

Gerry Brownlee promised the West Coast a stimulus package.  The government has now ruled that out. Those with whom John Key so public sympathised will not get what they were promised; they’ll be left to pick up the tab, whilst he works on his next PR opportunity.

Key’s priorities laid-bare

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, February 7th, 2011 - 24 comments

When a millionaire director and a foreign corporate wanted millions in tax breaks, Key jumped to it. When SCF collapsed the investors got an average of $60K, no questions asked. But when it comes to helping the ordinary families of Christchurch and the West Coast, the Nats are nowhere to be seen once the cameras are gone.

Don’t abandon Pike River recovery

Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, January 26th, 2011 - 21 comments

Good news for families of the Pike River miners. The Police have shown them video proving their mens bodies are still intact. It raises questions about the government’s actions. Why was this footage previously withheld? Why were the Nats spinning that there was nothing left to recover? And why was the recovery really abandoned so hastily?

Pike river facts needed

Written By: - Date published: 11:58 am, January 20th, 2011 - 27 comments

The dearth of solid information on the Pike River situation and the contradictory statements from the government have naturally led to suspicion that we’re not being told the whole story. The government has been caught flat-footed by the blowback. Now, finally, the Police are going to release their technical information, allowing independent assessments.

So, it is about cost?

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, January 17th, 2011 - 207 comments

You would think that, to reassure the families and satisfy critics, the government would have released detailed technical analysis showing why re-entering Pike River will never be possible. Instead, we got vague, contradictory statements only after the media pressed Key for answers. Now, a mining expert has confirmed the mine’s atmosphere is stable and can be made breathable cheaply.

Farrar’s pike river smears

Written By: - Date published: 12:09 pm, January 15th, 2011 - 136 comments

The National Secretary of the miners’ union has warned important evidence may be lost if Pike River mine is sealed.

For making that rational observation he’s been smeared by National Party blogger, David Farrar.

It seems the Nats don’t just want to seal the mine, they want to seal the whole issue and they’ll be quick attack anyone who raises any awkward points.

A failure of leadership over Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, January 15th, 2011 - 115 comments

Like smiling and waving, frowning and looking sombre, is easy. But satisfying the expectations you create can be hard. This is where Key consistently fails. He has failed again over Pike River. The sudden and inadequately explained end to the recovery operation is bad enough. Lying about the promises he made is gravely insulting.

Front on Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, January 14th, 2011 - 75 comments

Sad news for Coasters. Recovery of bodies at Pike River abandoned. Key promised ‘whatever it takes’ to get them out. He’s breaking his word. He should front up and justify it. Instead, he’s hiding from the media.

Why didn’t the warning sound at Pike River?

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 pm, January 6th, 2011 - 44 comments

I never, ever thought I would say this but there’s a very good article in Investigate this week. It’s about the Pike River disaster. With methane sensors in place, alarms should have gone off well before the gas reached combustible level. Investigate reveals the sensors may have been disabled by workers who would lose pay if they had to stop work.

The dead and the living

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, December 15th, 2010 - 37 comments

As a government and as a country we honoured the Pike River dead, as was right and proper.  But now the hard part starts.  What are we going to do for the Pike River survivors?  The families who lost loved ones. The fellow workers who have now lost their livelihood.