Hon Ruth Dyson
Minister for ACC

2 September 2005 Media Statement

Which part of ‘deliberately’ don’t they understand?

National has still not explained why the NZ Insurance Council told its members that details “were deliberately kept out” of its ACC policy announcement, ACC Minister Ruth Dyson said today.

“Just because Don Brash and Katherine Rich say it isn’t true doesn’t make it so. The fact remains that Chris Ryan, the chief executive of the NZ Insurance Council, sent a written memo to every member saying:

‘the details of the policy have been deliberately kept out of the announcement after consultation with the Insurance Council’.

“What are those details and why were they deliberately removed?”

Ruth Dyson also asked why Chris Ryan had changed his story about the details that were being withheld.

“Chris Ryan told the NZ Herald yesterday morning that a number of details had been removed: how far the privatisation of ACC would go, whether there would be an independent disputes tribunal, what role ACC would take, whether there would be a Crown entity player like last time, and what the timeframe would be.

“By the time he was interviewed on TVNZ last night, there was no talk of any details, just denial of a hidden agreement with National. That’s not what his memo says, and he needs to explain why he has changed his mind.”

Ruth Dyson said National needed to come clean about its ACC agenda.

“How far does National intend privatising ACC, and whose interests are they serving? Privatisation would be good for private insurance companies – as Chris Ryan says in his memo - but it’s not good for ordinary New Zealanders.”

ENDS

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