Andrew
LITTLE
ACC Spokesperson

27 February 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
Overseas insurers the main beneficiaries of ACC work injury changes
Double-speak from National and its one-man side-kick ACT offer no reassurance that ACC isn’t go to become a lucrative cash cow for overseas insurers, Labour’s ACC spokesperson Andrew Little says.

“John Key and John Banks both assume that private insurers will automatically up the ante on workplace accident cover. Ironically the last time we had private insurers involved, one of them - HIH - collapsed almost immediately, while the ink has yet to dry on AMI’s dramatic fall following the Canterbury earthquakes.

“The reality is the only insurance companies with the scale to be involved are Australian, American or European and any profit generated by them would go offshore,” Andrew Little said.

“New Zealand’s well-regarded ACC scheme has its origins in the failure of private workplace accident cover. There is nothing, apart from blind right wing ideology, that suggests turning back the clock will bring any improvement.

“Interestingly John Key is quoted in a report today as saying in one breath that the Government would not shut ACC out of providing work injury cover, while in another he says it is assessing its options for introducing choice into ACC’s work account.

“In the same article John Banks said ACT and ACC Minister Judith Collins were ‘exploring all available options’.

“When John Key talks about choice he is not talking about choice for 2.4 million wage and salary earners. It is only businesses that will have choice.

“Workers will have no say at all on what happens with workplace accident cover,” Andrew Little said.

ends

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