David Carter MP National Party Agriculture Spokesman

20 December 2005

ACC cost up 140% for some farmers

National Party Agriculture spokesman David Carter says the rising cost of ACC will come as another blow to a rural sector already getting hammered by the high Kiwi dollar.

"The Government denied holding back the release of the new ACC levies when I raised it before the election. We can now only assume they were indeed trying to hide the bad news from the public."

Mr Carter is referring to ACC levies announced last week, after Parliament had risen for the year, and in the rush before Christmas.

"For a typical farm, the self employed ACC levy for on-farm injuries has now increased by a massive 140% since Labour handed back the market monopoly to ACC.

"It flies in the face of all the assurances that Labour gave at the time.

"I simply don't buy the lame excuse that a decrease in the industry's liable earnings are justification for the latest ACC hike.

"The answer lies in the loss of control of ACC operational costs, which are signalled to rise by 35% next year.

"This was bound to happen in a climate where Treasury has issued repeated warnings about the massive expansion of the public sector and low quality spending," says Mr Carter.

ENDS

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