Re-entering the Pike River mine

Simon Bridges has just announced details of the Government's plan to re-enter the Pike River mine and eventually search for the remains of the miners killed in November 2010. Scoop reports:

Hon Simon Bridges
Minister of Energy and Resources

03 September 2013

Government to fund Pike River re-entry plan

The Government has approved conditional funding of a staged plan to re-enter and explore the main tunnel leading up to the rock fall at the Pike River Coal Mine, Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges has announced.
The decision follows approval in principle of the re-entry plan risk assessment by the Solid Energy Board.

Mr Bridges said the Government will fund the estimated cost of the plan, at $7.2 million.

“Our criteria are that any re-entry into the tunnel up to the rock fall is safe, technically feasible and financially credible. Safety is paramount, and the High Hazards Unit of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has reviewed the plan and is comfortable with it,” said Mr Bridges.

“This is a highly complex and technical operation and it will be carefully managed in stages, with a risk assessment undertaken at each stage. Ensuring the safety of workers is an absolute bottom line for the Government and Solid Energy.”

Mr Bridges said the scope of the operation did not include entry into the main mine workings which is blocked by the rock fall.

“The Government cannot comment or speculate about re-entering the main mine until the tunnel re-entry has been successfully achieved,” Mr Bridges said. 

The link above includes a Q&A with more detail about the Government's proposal, and the process is shown in diagrammatic form below. It is going to be a lengthy and difficult process, and it would be unrealistic to expect a quick outcome.

We are pleased that the Government has followed through on its commitment to do everything possible to recover the remains of the dead miners and contractors. We hope that today's announcement is the beginning of the end of the ordeal for all those who lost loved ones on 19 November 2010, and that it will help them eventually reach closure.

Rare praise for Bridges

Simon Bridges wins a rare accolade from the Dominion-Post for the changes he announced last week to workplace health and safety law. The Dom-Post editorial this morning opines:

It is a rare feat for a government of any hue to embark on changes to workplace laws that win the approval of employers and unions alike.
Labour Minister Simon Bridges has managed to achieve that with the overhaul of health and safety rules and regulations he revealed last week.
The package activates nearly all the recommendations from the Independent Task Force on Workplace Health and Safety, which was set up following the Pike River Coal mining tragedy.
The fact the measures have been broadly welcomed by the Council of Trade Unions and Business NZ is a good indication the task force struck the right balance between the need to reduce on-the-job accidents  and strangling businesses with red tape.
The changes include tougher penalties for health and safety breaches, clear guidelines on the roles and responsibilities of everyone from the boardroom to the smoko room and a new agency, WorkSafe, to police the law and target high-risk industries. They are long overdue. 

It would seem indeed that Simon Bridges has managed to bridge the gap between the expectations of unions and the workers they represent, and business owners. That is commendable.

Simon Bridges' ministerial career has been brief so far, but he is certainly on an upward track. Should National secure a third term leading the Government in 2014, he is likely to be further elevated up the pecking order.

Meanwhile the changes that Bridges plans to implement reinforce the message that workplace health and safety is everyone's responsibility; from the business owner, right down to the most lowly worker. The proposals are sensible and pragmatic, but most importantly place a significant emphasis on injury prevention. 

A significant reform of workplace safety laws is overdue, with the present legislation being 20 years old. Well done to Simon Bridges and his officials for the work that they have done in rolling this policy out to widespread acclaim.

Simon Bridges; Minister of Back-Handed Compliments

Simon Bridges made a cracking speech in the General Debate in Parliament this afternoon. He has certainly proved that Shane Jones is a man alone in the Labour Party; check this out:

Shane Jones has shown a rare outbreak of pragmatism on the vexed subject of mining and oil exploration with his recent entreaties. But he is a lone voice in the wilderness, as Bridges demonstrated.

Nor were the Greens spared ridicule. Accusing the Greens of "quackery", Bridges gave viewers a history lesson with his reference to the passage through the New Zealand Parliament in 1908 of the Quackery Prevention Act!

The General Debate is usually pure theatre, and Bridges provided that in spades. But it was also a most effective speech using a back-handed compliment towards Shane Jones to attack the anti-mining, anti-drilling, anti-progress brigade of the LabourGreen Party.

The Charities Commission got it right

The Charities Commission stripped Greenpeace of its charitable status in 2010. The reason given was that Greenpeace was determined to be a political advocacy group, rather than a charity. 

Since then there has been a protracted legal battle, with a visit to the Supreme Court in the wind after the High Court upheld the Charities Commission's decision, then the Court of Appeal found in Greenpeace's favour.

Unsurprisingly, the Greens went in to bat for Greenpeace, with Green MP Denise Roche reportedly preparing a Member's Bill defining advocacy as “charitable” if it is in pursuit of a charitable purpose. 

It's hard to see anything charitable in Greenpeace's latest political stunt; Stuff reports:

Greenpeace has launched an attack on Energy Minister Simon Bridges, proclaiming him as a liar on a massive billboard on one of the most prominent sites in central Wellington.
''Simon Bridges ... pants on fire,'' the multi-storey banner, measuring almost 300 square metres and stuck to the side of a Manners St building, reads.
Greenpeace, which has booked the high-profile site for about three weeks, says Bridges is accused of misleading Parliament over his dealings with the oil industry. It also says he wrongly claimed New Zealand can deal with a deep sea oil spill. 

If accusing a Minister of lying and misleading Parliament isn't political advocacy, we don't know what is. This is blatant politicking by Greenpeace, doubtless "encouraged" by their Green Party mates. The Greens of course are better known for defacing billboards than erecting them.

Simon Bridges however is flattered by the attention:

Following the billboard going up yesterday Bridges took to Twitter, saying: ''So chuffed to have my own billboard in Wellington Central today. Good photo too.''  

We're not quite sure whereabouts on Manners Street the billboard in question is hanging. But if it happens to be hanging within view of the Supreme Court, it should make the job of the judges deciding whether Greenpeace is too political to be a charity very easy indeed. 

It would seem that the Charities Commission made precisely the right decision in 2010, for precisely the right reasons.


Footnote: And perhaps one of our legal beagle readers might like to proffer an opinion on whether Greenpeace's billboard breaches electoral advertising legislation, given that there is no authorisation statement.