PM's Press Conference 01/05/17: Pike River Mine video

Today Prime Minister Bill English announced the Government are putting the finishing touches on the budget, highlighting growth and spending on infrastructure.

On the Pike River Mine video footage, Mr English stated it was incorrect to assume the government had withheld the footage. He noted that the rescue trust showed the workers were working in a container and went no more than two meters into the mine and police are still looking into it. The mine is still considered safe for manned re-entry and work is being done to arrange unmanned entry.

Questions around the Pike River Mine incident dominated. The Prime Minister was asked if families had seen footage of the robot “smoking and steaming”, to which he was unable to saw which parts of the video were seen and which families were present. He insisted that nothing has been hidden and the evidence is pretty clear that the workers were near the opening of the mine.

On the debate over renaming parts of State Highway 1, the Prime Minister stated, it is up to local council to deal with those issues. Mr English would not give a sneak peek of the budget in relation to housing. Other questions included what the Prime Minister’s expectations for the upcoming job figure announcements are, on the farewell events for departing ministers, Australian citizenship for New Zealanders, and US trade and the falling NZ dollar. The press conference concluded with Mr English’s comments on the former Transport Ministry manager’s act of fraud.

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