The new Minister responsible for the re-entry into Pike River mine wants the families "involved" and "engaged every step of the way".
Andrew Little met with Bernie Monk, Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne at Parliament today, for the first time since he's taken on the new portfolio.
Their loved ones were some of the 29 men killed when the mine exploded in 2010.
"I've been very clear the way I intend to approach my responsibilities as minister is to involve and engage the families in every step of the way," Mr Little told 1 NEWS.
"Every decision that gets taken they've got to own it and be part of it and that's what we will do," he says.
Both sides have agreed that a legal entity needs to be established to take control of the project, which cabinet is expected to make a decision on in the next week.
Mr Little says he still has to talk to Winston Peters about what the entity will look like and where responsibilities fall.
He want the legislation to go through Parliament before Christmas.
"In a sense it is a bit like starting over again to do what ought to have been done some time ago, but most importantly to give the families the confidence that we are taking this seriously," Mr Little says.
"It's not just important to them but it's important to the mining community, the west coast community and in the end because of the way this has been handled this is important to all New Zealand."
"The way the aftermath this tragic disaster has happened, has not been good and we've got to make amends. We will do that by doing justice to the families."
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