The lawyer representing Pike River families at the Royal Commission says he hadn't seen the video footage of the mine that's just emerged.
Six years ago, Richard Raymond QC was engaged as counsel acting for the Pike River families during the Royal Commission.
He told Morning Report the families are now concerned there may be other material they haven't been shown.
The footage shows a robot and two mine safety workers inside the Pike River Mine, about three months after the deadly 2010 disaster. Photo: Supplied
The Police are rejecting claims of a six-year coverup of video footage showing a robot and two workers inside the Pike River Mine drift three months after the 2010 explosion.
Yesterday the Prime Minister Bill English was drawn into the controversy over the footage and what it revealed of conditions in the mine where the remains of 29 miners still lie unrecovered.
He told reporters the video, or at least excerpts filmed by the same robot during the same operation - were shown by Police to Pike River families in July 2011, ahead of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the disaster.
Police declined our invitation to come on Morning Report today.
They said they were still working to confirm the footage aired by NewsHub on Sunday night was shown to the Pike River families during the July meetings in Christchurch and Greymouth.
Sonya Rockhouse's son Benjamin died in the Pike River Mine disaster, while another son, Daniel was one of just two survivors says she's irked that the recent footage of a robot and two men in the drift of the Pike River mine had to be leaked for families to see it.
She says families have been treated poorly and there needs to be complete transparency and sit down with a range of experts.
Tragedy at Pike River Mine, by Rebecca Macfie Photo: Supplied
Journalist Rebecca Macfie wrote the definitive account of the disaster which killed 29 men - Tragedy at Pike River Mine.
She said there was no excuse for all of the footage not being handed over to the families and the key issue highlighted by the video was the lack of transparency by the police.
Two key pieces of evidence were leaked to the families and the police have not been open about their process, she said.
"I think we're at risk of getting bogged down in the detail of what this particular video shows. It's the patterns of disclosure... and the big broader context in which the families are left to interpret everything that happens."
She says its essential that any official information not yet given to the families of victims should be made available.
