PM rejects 'unsafe' tourism claims

John Key:  'We're committed to doing a better job.' Photo James Beech
John Key: 'We're committed to doing a better job.' Photo James Beech
Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key has today rejected ''facts'' used by the father of a Fox Glacier plane crash victim to claim in an internet campaign New Zealand as unsafe for tourists.

The Otago Daily Times asked Mr Key in a press conference at Trenz in Queenstown for his response to a YouTube video and social media campaign by Chris Coker which criticised New Zealand's safety standards.

Mr Coker's 24-year-old son Bradley was one of nine people killed on September 4, 2010, when a skydiving plane crashed at Fox Glacier - New Zealand's worst air disaster in 17 years. He said his son's death was ''completely avoidable'' and showed a lack of proper regulation and control.

Mr Key said he wanted to pass sincere condolences to Mr Coker for the loss of his son, ''an enormous tragedy, so I feel for him as a parent and as a politician''.

''He needs to understand, as others do, that we take it very seriously in terms of improving safety standards. My fundamental view is that the industry is safe, for the most part it was safe, the vast bulk of operators have operated for a long period of time and the real changes we've made are about eliminating one or two rogues that tarnished the whole industry.

''What is not true is some of the claims made in terms of the number of deaths and the state of the industry. They are just factually incorrect, but I can understand his pain and we're committed to doing a better job.''

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