The neoliberal framework of deregulation may have finally have had its day in New Zealand. The Royal Commission's report into the Pike River disaster - which is both highly political and utterly damning - blames successive governments for creating and presiding over the regulations (or lack of) directly responsible for the conditions under which the tragedy occurred. For the full extent of this, see Duncan Garner's Corporate, Government and departmental manslaughter. Garner argues that the 'genesis of this tragedy started in 1992 when National watered down health and safety rules in the Department of Labour'. He says that 'This is a debacle of monumental proportions and massive change is necessary, at both departmental and Government level'. For further detail of how the orthodoxy of light regulation contributed to the disaster, see Andrea Vance's very good summary of the Royal Commission's report: Cost-cutting drive at tragedy's heart.
Similarly, Tracy Watkins says that the report is 'an acknowledgement that successive governments and the bureaucracy have failed workers in the worst possible way. It marks a turning point away from the orthodoxy of the past 20 years' - see: Pike River report a damning indictment. She says 'It is a damning indictment on a regulatory regime in New Zealand that has seen layers of prescriptive regulations peeled back to balance safety considerations against productivity. In the wake of the leaky-buildings fiasco, and equally damning evidence from the Commission of Inquiry into the Canterbury earthquakes, our confidence in our public institutions and the rules they work under must now be seriously shaken'. Likewise, the Stuff website reports that 'The royal commission report into the Pike River disaster is likely to force an overhaul of light-handed safety laws that have left New Zealand ranked as one of the most dangerous countries for workers in the developed world' - see: Pike River: Safety overhaul 'urgently needed'.
There needs to be a commitment to a timeline for implementing the recommendations, writes Gordon Campbell, because 'Key is now mulling over whether to follow the Royal Commission's advice, or to subvert it' - see: Royal Commission Pike River report. Looking more broadly, Colin James also sees deregulation - or inadequate regulation - as the cause of a host of problems in the modern world and politics - see: Risks from both under and overregulation.
Although the Pike River mining tragedy was initially deemed to be non-political by many, it has been politicised with the reports release. There could be electoral implications too, with National's competence in government already under fire. The damning report is essentially a compendium of the political and corporate negligence that led to the preventable deaths of 29 men. People will be increasingly angry when the full implications of the report sink in.
The National Government will be hoping to escape the public opprobrium with Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson resigning from her portfolio. But John Armstrong condemns this, saying Wilkinson should be resigning from Cabinet, not just one portfolio - see: Wilkinson's resignation the least she could get away with. Armstrong also makes the interesting argument that the Prime Minister was at fault for putting such an 'economic dry' into the portfolio in the first place: 'Key's mistake is that he put a born-again deregulator into a portfolio where regulations were in desperate need of promulgation and then enforcement. Few other National Party ministers display a tone and demeanour which is so avowedly hostile to the interests of the workforce compared with employers'.
