Dear Mr Dunne: a statement from a Pike River widow

Stand With Pike media release - 25 January 2017

Peter Dunne’s statements about the evidence for safe re-entry of the Pike River drift is exactly the kind of uninformed politicking he claims he is rejecting, says Pike River family member Anna Osborne.

In his open letter to US President Donald Trump, Mr Dunne says, “[Politicians] share your distaste of science and evidence because it can be awkward. We have some calling for the reopening of a mine where 29 men died so tragically over six years ago, even though all the evidence says the mine is still unstable and unsafe to enter.”

Anna, who lost her husband Milton in the disaster, says, “I get that he’s trying to come across as ‘sensible’, but he’s clearly failed to get some basic facts right here.

“For a start, we’re not talking about re-entering the mine. We’re talking about re-entering the drift - a 2.3km tunnel that leads to the mine. That’s an extremely important distinction.

“Mr Dunne also seems to have missed the expert reports we have provided, which have been presented to Parliament, that show safe re-entry of the drift can be done. I’m happy to send him copies if he wants.

“I also assume he wasn’t listening when a statement from the former New Zealand Chief Mines Inspector that the drift can be safely re-entered was read out in Parliament.

“I encourage Mr Dunne to educate himself about what the evidence actually shows, before his ignorance causes any further distress to the families of the men we lost in that mine. I welcome him to join us at select committee on 16 February to do so.”

Copies of the re-entry framework and expert endorsements are available here - we urge Mr Dunne to familiarise himself with them.

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