Pike River documents about Peter Whittall could be released

Documents explaining why charges against former Pike River chief executive Peter Whittall were dropped could be released to families of the disaster. Mr Whittall had faced 12 charges relating to alleged health and safety breaches in the leadup to the Pike River Mine explosion, but these were dropped in 2013. He and other directors and officers of Pike River Coal then offered to make a voluntary compensation payment of $3.4 million to the families of the victims. TVNZ reported last night that the High Court has ruled that the families may now see the privileged material that led to those charges being dropped. The judgement, which is expected to be released today, reportedly says that without transparency, "there is scope for false speculation and misunderstanding" which "can undermine confidence in the administration of justice". Bernie Monk, who lost his son Michael in the disaster spoke with Nathan Rarere.