Another Flip Flop | The Jackal

20 Aug 2011

Another Flip Flop

Kate Wilkinson is now increasing the mining inspectorate despite repeatedly denying there was a problem. National has up until now been adamant that one mine inspector for the entire country was enough and they wouldn't make changes until the royal commission reported.

It appears that National can’t even stick to their own bullshit! A couple of days ago stuff reported that mine inspectors are to be doubled. They also reported that:

Check inspectors were abolished in 1992 and a mine inspectorate was dismantled in 1998. 

A Labour Department paper in 2008 recommended that check inspectors – workers with the authority to clear a mine if they considered it dangerous – be restored in underground mines. 

What they failed to report though was that it was a National government who abolished and dismantled the mine inspectorate. The current National government also killed the Labour Department's 2008 recommendations as soon as they gained power.

National’s back tracking clearly shows there's an inadequate safety program, which could have caused the 29 miners at Pike River to die. Kate Wilkinson should resign.