Mark Law / Tim Barrow - two names you probably never heard of - at least not until the Whakaari/White Island eruption. These two pilots along with others immediately took action when the eruption happened - flying out to the Island to rescue those badly injured in the eruption. They made a number a trips and many lives were credited with their swift action. They knew the risks and made a thorough evaluation before taking off to help the badly injured survivors. 

These are not amateurs, they are professionals. They fly helicopters for a living and regularly took visitors out to the island so knew exactly what they were doing. While other Govt agencies were reluctant to go out and conducts rescues Tim and Mark and their fellow pilots didn't hesitate, they flew out to Whakaari - landed on the island and did what they could to transport the victims back to the mainland. The emotional stress alone would have been tough for these men. 

Now - 12 months later Worksafe are prosecuting these two pilots. They have been charged under Worksafe Rules that they didn't provide due care to their passengers - in the case of Mark Law he wasn't even on the island when it erupted. It seems that Worksafe are looking to blame others for any little thing they can even though THEIR inspectors visited two months prior to the eruption for an audit and signed everything off as being fine. Maybe Worksafe should have a good long look in the mirror about where the blame lies.

The idea of this petition is to ask Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to instead of letting Worksafe charge two Heroes - they instead recognise the extraordinary efforts these men and the others who flew with them did on that day and throw out the charges. These men don't deserve this treatment - as a Kiwi we make stuff happen when the chips are down. We go the extra mile for fellow Kiwis and in this case visitors who were seeing our great land. Mark and Tim epitomise the Kiwi spirit - do we really want to show this generation and the next that if you go out of your way to help others in a time of need then you will probably get hung out to dry by some Govt Dept looking for people to blame. 

So please take a min to share this petition and let's stand up for these true Kiwi heroes. Kia Kaha Mark and Tim.