Bernie Monk, who lost his son, said, "after seven years of stalling and being fobbed off by the last Government, we're now making great strides towards re-entering the drift and recovering remains and evidence".
The last Government certainly did raise the families' hopes at times and received the same sort of praise the new Government has received. If the families are to be reconciled eventually to the impossibility of safely re-entering the mine, they will need to be intimately involved with the agency's work. It will not be enough to give them briefings in Greymouth as the previous Government did when it had progress (or lack of it) to report. The families will need to be treated almost like a board of directors for the agency, not with the power to tell it what to do but to be part of its discussions in deciding what to do.
The agency will take over the mine from Solid Energy before its liquidation in March next year. It will then be responsible for maintaining the mine's infrastructure and for its safety while re-entry is under consideration. If it decides the risks can be mitigated, the decision to take the risks will rest with Andrew Little, now designated Minister for Pike River Re-entry. If it happens, he expects it to be in the latter half of next year, possibly by the next anniversary on November 19.
At last Sunday's anniversary, Little gave the families a key to the gate of the road to the mine entrance that was locked against them when they went to protest at Solid Energy's plans to seal the entrance.
Little's gesture was a good first step to giving the grieving a sense of shared ownership of the mine that is now a tomb for 29 men. It will be important they can feel shared responsibility for whatever happens.