The Pike River footage Newshub released on Sunday night has angered Greymouth locals who want an explanation from the Government.
Nigel Hampton, the lawyer representing the Pike families, was also blindsided by the video.
He was "surprised that it existed and hadn't been revealed."
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said the footage should have been made public during the Royal Commission of inquiry.
"There's probably more other videos too and these should have been put into the public domain," he said.
Nick Smith is the Minister in charge of the Pike River investigation- he knew the footage existed, but says he never asked to watch it.
"Ministers don't get down into the detail of watching hours and hours of video footage from the robots that were put down," he says.
Former Police Minister Judith Collins was more than happy to discuss Pike River last December, but today was not so keen.
She said on Monday "I am no longer Minister of police" and "it's an operational matter for police."
Also not willing to talk was Gary Knowles, the police commander in charge of Pike in 2010 - he's now working overseas.
The video was filmed in March 2011 and made public for the first time last night, showing mines rescue workers in the mine's access tunnel and what appears to be smoke coming from an overheating robot vehicle.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says "it proves that this is a cover up which is bound to fail and there's more evidence along those lines as well."
"We live in a democracy, it's about accountability and open Government."
Labour leader Andrew Little says "It should have been made available to the families well before now, and it shouldn't have come from a leak."
Newshub.
