The father of one of the Pike River victims is considering legal action against the government for not going further inside the mine.
Families at the entrance to the mine for the re-entry in May 2019. Photo: Supplied / Pike River Recovery Agency
The Family Reference Group, representing most of the 29 victims, said this morning it accepted advice from the government that there would be no more money to expand the project to recover their loved ones' remains.
Bernie Monk is not part of the Family Reference Group, and said he was frustrated and unhappy he and some others did not get a say.
"We're not going to just lay down and roll over like they want us to, like the FRG have and rolled over and just made the decisions without discussing it in a family situation, and we've continuously asked them to do that and yet they have banned us from all the meetings," he said.
Monk said he has been left with two options: either take legal action against the government for not going further in the mine, or families would have to fund the recovery operation themselves.
While he was not yet clear on which option to pick, one thing was certain - that he felt the men inside were being let down.
Monk said the families should not be too quick to put their faith in police without recovery workers having a detailed examination of the fan area of the mine.
He said having a look at the fan would unearth crucial evidence.
"We've got the same police doing the investigation that did it the first time and they didn't do it properly then, so what's going to make them do it properly this time when they are not going into the fan area which is only nine metres away."
Police said their investigation into Pike River was ongoing.
The Minister Responsible for Pike River re-entry Andrew Little said what he told the families last night when meeting with them was nothing new.
In a statement to RNZ, he said the government had delivered on its promise to safely recover the Pike River Mine drift.
He said the mandate of the recovery agency, which was to recover the drift, has not changed and the drift was being forensically examined.
Monk believed Little had a lot to answer for, given he previously spoke about how safe the mine was while he was at the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union.
"He made a mistake [at the time] and has admitted that. Then he comes along and he marches up to Blackball with us every year with the unions, putting his fist in the air and saying solidarity, 'we're going to help you guys, we're going to do everything for you to get your men out," he said.
"And here we are, now he's the minister for recovery of the mine and he's pulling the pin. I can't accept it."