Gerry Brownlee National ACC Spokesperson

Monday 27 November 2000

Caution over new ACC premiums

The Government's trumpeting of the new ACC premiums needs to be taken with a grain of salt, National ACC spokesperson Gerry Brownlee said today

"90 cents is about where @Work, the now defunct ACC competitor, was 12 months ago.

"There are concerns that the Government's plans to bring back lump sum compensation will see premiums sky-rocket over time.

"It has to be remembered that the Government scrapped competition in ACC for purely ideological reasons.

"The new premiums are being delivered by the monopoly public ACC. If there was competition there is no doubt these premiums would be even lower, but the Labour-Alliance Government gave all that up earlier this year when they abolished privatisation.

"Without the discipline of competition that means these reductions could either be short-lived or the last businesses will see under the Labour-Alliance Government."

Ends

© Scoop Media