Pike Families ecstatic over historic political agreement
Pike Families ecstatic over historic political agreement
Stand With Pike media release - 15 August, 2017
Pike River families are over the moon with the
signing of a cross-party political agreement for an agency
to take ownership of Pike River mine and reclaim the drift
to recover remains and evidence.
The commitment was
signed this afternoon by the leaders of Labour, United
Future, The Maori Party, and the Green Party and, together
with the earlier commitment by New Zealand First, means that
there is now a Parliamentary majority behind the families’
fight for truth and justice.
Anna Osborne, whose
husband Milton died in the Pike River mine, is ecstatic over
the commitment. “This is a huge victory for justice and an
enormous step towards getting our boys out, getting the
truth, and coming to terms with what happened at Pike
River..
“We are so incredibly thankful to all of
the parties that have backed us on this today and over the
last year, their commitment shows that we can get justice,
and lets all New Zealanders know that our leaders will do
the right thing.”
Bernie Monk lost his son
Michael in the mine, he says the commitment marks a long
fight for truth. “It’s nearly seven years since we lost
our boys in that awful place, and it’s never been properly
investigated. With this historic commitment the job of
getting into the drift, recovering our boys, and finding
evidence of what happened all those years ago is closer than
it has ever been.
“This is a moment that we will
remember for the rest of our lives. A moment when right won
out.”
Sonya Rockhouse’s son Ben died in the
mine and her son Daniel was one of just two survivors. “I
can’t stop thinking about how far we’ve come since late
last year when we started our last-ditch protest at the Pike
River road in the middle of nowhere. It was so close to
being over, another few days and the mine would have been
sealed and given to DOC and we would never have stood a
chance of getting in there and finding the
truth.
“To be standing in Parliament. Less than a
year later and watching leader after leader signing up to
recover the drift, it’s just mind-blowing. It’s restored
my faith in our democracy.”
The full commitment is
attached
The framework and review for safe reentry of
the drift, produced by world leading mining and mines rescue
experts are available here.
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1708/Pike_RIver_Commitment.pdf
ends