Prime Minister Bill English refuses to meet with the Pike River families over re-entering the mine. His reason: 'It is not a political decision”. He is technically correct, however he now has the ability to exercise a ‘compassionate ethic' towards NZ citizens who have been seriously disadvantaged by predetermined outcomes of an amalgam of environmental greenies, Solid Energy, Police, the courts and a Royal Commission. The families have ‘played the game' by acquiescing to all constrictive, government-constructed rules and protocols that stood in the way of re-entry in the weeks, months and years preceding their personal tragedies. Now they face the decision made by the hierarchy to seal forever the mine and entomb, not just the bodies of their loved ones but any evidence that may prove these men could have been retrieved immediately after the initial explosion. As a politician, the PM cannot make the ‘re-entry' decision but he has the power and fiscal budget to seek ‘independent' global advice from mine experts that include answers to all the questions that the families have been seeking answers for. That, in my view, would establish Bill English as a PM who ‘seeks the truth' and does not leave his constituent citizens behind.

MJ Anderson, Pyes Pa.