Tonight on Close Up ` is the air force an unsafe place for recruits? The families in a fight for justice with the Defence Force. I'm not after any money; I want to see justice done. See what it takes to be the best of the best at the Ellerslie Flower Show. And the Welsh rugby club with a one-of-a-kind Kiwi jersey get some good news. Due to the live nature of Close Up, captions for some items may be incomplete. ONE News captions by Richard Edmunds and Sam Bradford. Close Up captions by Faith Hamblyn and Pippa Jefferies. Is the Air Force an unsafe place to work? Two families whose sons were in the fatal Anzac Day chopper crash say despite a damning court of inquiry which identified serious failures and a culture of lawbreaking, no one has been held to account and it could happen again. They claim appalling treatment by a Defence Force more concerned with covering its own back and are determined to fight on. Here's Arrun Soma. DRONING MUSIC A parents' fight. He can recover and fly again, but they're gonna make darned sure he doesn't. DRONING MUSIC A battle against those who were meant to protect their sons. Once you go inside that piece of barbed wire that goes right around Ohakea, you head into a different world. The public of NZ need to be protected and to know that some organisation will look into it and will hold them accountable. 'THE LAST POST' Anzac Day two years ago, a day to remember the fallen. Three Air Force helicopters take off from Ohakea airbase en route to Wellington for a dawn service flyover. It's a gloomy morning, and as they pass over the Kapiti Coast, one Iroquois slams into the hills above Pukerua Bay. Three servicemen were killed, another critically injured. Cpl Ben Carson is one of those who lost his life. His fellow crewman Sgt Stevin Creeggan miraculously survived, but was left with more than 25 broken bones. On the day Stevin crawled to Ben to check Ben was all right, and he said he was too late. They said he was too late. DRONING MUSIC That day was the start of a special bond between two grieving families. Come on in anyway. Once strangers, now friends, a relationship born out of tragedy. Until now, the Creeggans have been too scared to speak out. With Stevin (38) still with the Air Force, they're worried he could be punished. They say the Defence Force has told their son to keep quiet too. That effectively meant that Stevin's family, he had to keep them at bay. He couldn't` He had no one he could offload to. RT TRANSMISSIONS, SIRENS WAIL It all started on the day of the crash. With Stevin critically injured in hospital, a distraught Gaile and John say they were barred from getting updates because of a Defence Force administrative botch-up. By not being recognised as next of kin, it meant we were not entitled to any information about Stevin, so for eight days we didn't really know how extensive Stevin's injuries were. It was like being in a play. You were sitting back watching the play, everything was happening in front of you, but it was your child they were all talking about. And after hospital, Gaile says her sick son was often left to fend for himself. He was on his own all night. I was beside myself when I found out. My doctor said not to go back, that it was the Air Force's job to look after Stevin. And... I had phone calls from different ones from up in Ohakea saying, 'Stevin needs you. Stevin needs you,' so I hopped on the plane and went back. We were promised that Stevin would get AAA care. On what we have seen and been involved in, we would give them a FFF for trying. The Carsons want answers too. They have strong Air Force ties. Ben's grandfather fought at war. Ben's father, Andrew, grew up on base. I'm just pleased he never knew what the Air Force were really like. He had such wonderful respect for the Air Force through his time listening to his grandfather. The Carsons claim they were left out of meetings where the other families were given updates on the crash inquiry. I think the Air Force has let itself down dreadfully. A scathing report into the accident exposed a litany of Defence Force mistakes, like a culture of rule-breaking within the helicopter squadron,... All these people at this holiday camp were collecting their pay packets, but not doing the work. ...also contradictory and convoluted flying orders and procedures that were sometimes out of date,... They've got rules, but they weren't following them. ...and the pilots that flew that morning weren't even fully qualified for the task. Somebody above them gave them the keys and put them in there. Despite all this, no one's been held to account. One person was found guilty of not following written orders properly, but that was later quashed on appeal. Absolutely no business should ever be allowed to walk away from that. They are putting our young men and women at risk. In your view, what would happen if the Air Force was a private firm? It'd have been shut down real quick. There would have been several authorities that would've come in ` the Labour Department and CAA. The families are outraged the Defence Force operating under its own law investigates itself. One was one of the very first things they said to us. Less than six hours after Ben was killed. And probably less than 30 minutes after we were on the Air Force base, 'You can't sue us.' But they've vowed to keep fighting. Give our best to Stevin. The couples want you warn you they fear the worst ` that this could happen all over again. Well, I wouldn't advise any young ones to go into the Air Force until they sort their problems out. I'm not after any money. I want to see justice done. If these people are not put on trial, well, then, effectively, the NZ law must be changed, because otherwise you've literally given these people a licence to kill. The Air Force asked us to contact the families of the pilot and co-pilot who also lost their lives in the crash to get their perspective about the way defence has treated them. Both families say the Defence Force has communicated well with them and given them quality support and they have no complaints. Joining me know is the chief of the Air Force, Air Vice Marshall Peter Stockwell. You heard those parents. They say your air force may have a licence to kill. It's not reasonable. We can't remove all risk. You didn't follow the correct procedures. That is what gives it a licence to kill. As we explained last year, it was a very thorough enquiry. It covered a lot of issues. We put in place measures to address those concerns. I understand the way their families are feeling. It was a tragic accident. I accept that we didn't communicate with some of the families as well as we should have. For them to say that within six hours of the crash, a reminder for them not to sue, is appalling. Both families were told that. I don't know who would have said that to them. I don't know that's true. I have no information to refute that. The enquiry did say that there were problems with procedures. Has anyone been disciplinedor sacked over that? We have now started a disciplinary proceeding commission. It may result in further charges. You could have called the police and. Why didn't you? The police were involved and the outset of the investigation after the crash. They assisted along with the Civil Aviation Authority. Crown Law have reviewed the conduct of the enquiry. Would you accept an independent investigation into what happened? If there was a strong call for that, of course we would. The court of enquiry was quite damning of a number of things we were doing at the time. With accepted responsibility for that. There's been no call or evidence produced by anybody to say the court enquiry was flawed. The family say they don't have faith in the process. Why can't there be an independent investigation? We've supplied a copy of the report with agencies that may want to investigate it. If the police had an interest and wanted to pursue an enquiry, the air force wouldn't stand in their way? They have lost faith in the air force. I understand the way that they are feeling. We will learn some lessons from this. If we end up in this situation again, we will do better. Coming up ` the Ellerslie Flower Show is back in bloom in Christchurch. We're live with the winners of the supreme award. And what's in store for the Welsh rugby club with the legendary NZ kit? The flowers are blooming again in Christchurch with the return of the Ellerslie Flower Show. It was cancelled last year after the February 22nd quake, when the Hagley Park marquees turned from a green fingered paradise into emergency shelters. Now the city's and the country's mad-keen gardeners are back. In a moment we'll talk to the winner of the supreme best garden award, but first, Alexi O'Brien spent time with exhibitors as show preparations got underway. GENTLE MUSIC It's a garden-lover's delight in a city where there's not a lot of love for Mother Nature. GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES It's sort of unfinished business, really. We feel like it was a good garden and we wanted to show it off, and it was worth doing it again. Back doing it again after the earth moved on February 22nd last year and turned Hagley Park into this. Every time anyone progressed from what had happened last year, it's was all, like, 'Yes, this is all going ahead.' CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS Norm Avis was working on Paul's garden when the quake struck. He's part of the team who've returned to finish it off. The day before the earthquake, an engineer from Beca came and said that he thought we should put the steel poles there because if there was an earthquake there was a possibility that they would roll down, so that very day we put the steel up there. And the very next day the earthquake struck and those pipes moved considerably. And I would have been underneath the pipes if it hadn't been for the steel. I'd left the site about 12 o'clock, and I was heading back to the office. I just got back to the office. I thought it was a great big truck going past, to start with. It soon became very obvious that it wasn't. This time-lapse camera set up in one of the marquees captures the moment. MAN: And over here, too. ONE News cameras also onsite. (CRIES) What was that? 6.3. MAN: Hello? WOMAN: Is there anyone there? MAN: Hello? OK, girls, we've got to get out of here. But even as the park was evacuated, it became a safe haven. Hagley Park is a safe assembly point. PANTING Hagley Park is one of the safest places in Christchurch, so we just opened the gates and let people through. And you ended up in here? Yep, literally in here. We ended up with about a thousand people sleeping in this marquee. MAN: The whole park is ruined. Look at that. I, sort of, immediately thought, 'That's the end of Ellerslie for this year.' The show was cancelled, but some of the flowers were used at the memorial service the month after the quake. Back in Paul's garden, it's not just the flowers, but the concrete that's colourful. They're, sort of, abstracted from various elements of the landscape, so we've got lupins for the purple pipes, the blue pipes, sort of, the water in the canals down there. And the lakes. The yellow is, sort of, abstracted from the tussocks, the red is like the penstocks, and the green is to pick up things like the beech trees and some of the other plants. It's based on the upper Waitaki hydro dam in the Mackenzie basin, and over the past weeks we've watched it come together. Two hours to go, guys. And while the garden show's where budgets are big and dreams are bigger, organisers are hoping locals will also take some tips into their own backyard and make peace with Mother Earth. Even if all you can do is put a bit of bright bit of colour in your front garden, even if it's only on a short-term basis, in a container, you can move it, re-plant it. And I think for people, it is getting back to nature and understanding it and overcoming those problems. GENTLE MUSIC The winner of Best In Show was announced just a short time ago. It is Paul Roper-Gee, winning the Supreme Award Judges' Choice with his hydro-dam-inspired creation. We got no tipoff on this. Congratulations, Paul. Take us through a bit of the garden next to you there. It's inspired by the Waitaki power scheme. He came and saw the garden and opened for us. He thought was fun. Before it was great. He didn't expect the garden to be part of his legacy. You are a landscape gardener ` you're normally pottering around on the side of motorways, aren't you? This would have been great fun, then. Yeah, this has been excellent fun. Did you have a sense you are going to win? I was hoping I would do well. You got the best of the best. The poll behind you ` explain that. That's inspired by the canals down in the Lakes. So the blue colour is from the Lakes. A lot of work must have gone into that. Three weeks of building and a lot of planning. Have you started thinking about next year's entry? Not really. They should enjoy it. They deserve it down here in Christchurch. Congratulations again. Coming up ` we catch up with the jersey boyos about selling their NZ rugby memorabilia to save their club. Remember the jersey boyos, the Welsh rugby club who were going bust so had to sell their pride and joy, a 1905 NZ original rugby jersey they had valued at �10,000? When they appeared last week they sent out a call to all comers in a bid to get a good price. We thought we had one ` entrepreneur Owen Glenn contacted us offering asking price, plus the club could keep the jersey. So we got back in touch with Clive and the gang only to discover thanks to us, they're in the big league now. Once it became known on the world stage, thanks to yourselves to a large extent, that it was for sale, the interest shown and the contact with the club from a global perspective overwhelmed our committee. And we're delighted to say that the interest has bucked up our slight demoralised state through finances tremendously. Clive, I was contacted by Owen Glenn. He's a very successful Kiwi businessman. Now, he was happy to pay the �10,000 you mentioned and leave the jersey at the club, but you've apparently had another NZ offer? Although we may not be there with you now, let me say from our colleagues in this club and the village and Wales in general, I want to thank you for that generous gesture. But, yes, in answer to your question, Mark, that offer has actually been superseded. We've currently got a best offer of �15,000, and they do have to say that that offer is also from NZ. Are you surprised at the interest from NZ? Well, we're not surprised that there's an interest in NZ, obviously, because the shirt's origin ` it's from NZ. What has surprised us somewhat is the global interest, Mark. We've had enquiries from Ireland, Wales itself. We've had quite a bit of interest from Wales. We've had interest from NZ, Australia and even from America. I know you wanted to keep it, but you will get enough money to stay afloat, Clive? If the original benefactor that was prepared generously to offer that asking price, Mark, plus if he could go home and sell the car or something and come back with 15,000 and let us keep it, we'd certainly shake his hand. You are incorrigible. I say that light-heartedly, of course. Good to get an update. All the best for the club, Clive. That's very kind of you. And thank you to our friends in NZ. Keep on sending the bids in. Thank you. Last night we heard how All Black Conrad Smith is raising money to build a wall around a Kenyan orphanage. You reacted immediately. A day on, the So They Can charity raised $7500. But they've a way to go ` if you still want to contribute, go to www.sotheycan.org And that's NZ Close Up. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air.