The Government is right to stand firm against the emotive pressure for it to step in pay the court-ordered reparation to the Pike River families.

Because of the high profile nature of the tragedy these families have received far more extra financial support than most other accident victims could ever dream of. In addition, their ACC entitlements will quite rightly cost ACC millions.

It is sad to see the grandstanding of other political parties on this issue. Further, it is my view the prosecution of the company on health and safety charges is a waste of time, when we all know it is broke.
Plus, there are contractors and other creditors unpaid and shareholders who have lost their money.

The judge should have used some common sense and not made a reparation order at all, citing the obvious reasons. Maybe it would have been better to save costs of the case to distribute the estimated savings among Pike families?
We need to acknowledge accident victims in NZ end up being far better off than those who suffer from disease and disablement.

This is because we all pay a lot of money into ACC during our lifetimes. A trend, in recent years, for families to receive court-ordered reparation on top is disturbing in that it's a type of double-dipping.

It also has a lottery element to it, which is what ACC is set up to avoid.

B Capamagian, Tauranga City.