Andrew Little has shown typical political weasel behaviour by announcing that he will be the minister responsible and ordering recovery operations, but he won’t be responsible if anything goes wrong:
The chief executive of the Pike River Recovery Agency will be held responsible if anything goes wrong with the re-entry of the drift.
Last month, the Prime Minister and Andrew Little – the Minister Responsible for the Pike River Re-entry, announced the Government would establish a government department by the end of January 2018 to assess the risk associated with a manned re-entry, and the best way to carry out the entry.
The entry of the mine’s drift, and the recovery of any remains of the 29 men killed in 2010, would be completed by March 2019.
Both Jacinda Ardern and Little said there would be risk involved with a manned re-entry, but it was up to the agency to assess the risk and to mitigate it, and if the level of risk was acceptable, go forward with the re-entry.
They also said anyone tasked with carrying out the re-entry had the right to refuse to take part in the job, if they deemed it unsafe.
At the time of the announcement, Little said the agency – Te Kahui Whakamana Rua Tekau ma Iwa (The Empowering Voice for the Pike 29) – would answer to him, and as the minister in charge, he would have the final decision.
He refused to respond to questions on who would be held liable, under New Zealand health and safety laws, if something went wrong.
However, documents relating to the establishment of the agency show the chief executive of the agency would be held legally responsible if something went wrong.
I’m sure they will be flooded with applicants for a job where there is a high chance of being prosecuted and sent to jail or receive a massive multi-million dollar fine if something went wrong. The line will be around the corner twice over I’m sure. /sarc
These muppets have no idea of commercial risk. No director would accept that level of risk, unless of course Andrew Little is about to blow the budget for this and pay a massive salary to compensate for the risk.
-Fairfax