Key says NZ mining practices will change
Prime Minister John Key has told an Australian newspaper there will be changes in New Zealand mine safety regulations.
Prime Minister John Key has told an Australian newspaper there will be changes in New Zealand mine safety regulations.
Mr Key made the comments in an interview with The Australian newspaper when asked about Pike River, the West Coast mine where a series of explosions left 29 men dead last November.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry is to investigate the disaster at the West Coast mine, looking at whose responsibility it was, whether it could have been avoided and if there were systemic problems with implications for other underground mines.
While the Government has remained quiet on the issue of safety at Pike River, saying any comment would follow the inquiry, Mr Key acknowledged to The Australian serious deficiencies in New Zealand mine safety regulations.
Although he told the newspaper he was not in a position to "give a full response" on mining safety until after the royal commission's conclusion, he said "we do have to ask the question" about safety standards.
Mr Key said the Pike River mine, a single-entry uphill mine, "couldn't have been constructed in Australia" because it would have been "illegal".
"There will be changes in New Zealand," Mr Key said.
Joanne Ufer, the mother of Josh Ufer, one of two Australians to die at Pike River, told the newspaper she was surprised to hear Mr Key's comments about safety at the mine.
"Why didn't it come out 12 months ago or two years ago when Pike first opened? They would have kept getting away with it but for this tragedy," she said.
"If anything at all comes out of this, it should be a change in the safety standards."
NZPA
Tue, 21 Jun 2011
Tue, 21 Jun 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Key says NZ mining practices will change
15371