Comment on Royal Commission report into Pike River

“This report is crucial for the West Coast. Our future will depend upon our ability to access the considerable underground resources that exist in our region in both coal and gold.

“While we are reliant on jobs for the future of West Coast communities, the lives and welfare of families are non-negotiable.

“That Pike River Coal should put the drive for profit before the mine was ready - and hence put miners’ lives at risk - is abhorrent.

“Mining safety must be an absolute priority not an option, as it was at Pike River.

“It was right of Kate Wilkinson to resign. I wrote to her in May 2010, six months before the disaster, raising concerns about safety in Solid Energy’s West Coast mines. Her response was a study in buck-passing.

“We owe it to the families of the lost miners to take every piece of wisdom and advice from a process that was agonizingly long but necessary, and act on them. We need absolute commitment from the Government that every one of the recommendations will be followed through.

“Unfortunately commitments by John Key to recover the mine drift and bodies have come to nothing. We expect more from him following this report. “