Pansy Wong MP
National Party ACC Spokeswoman

11 April 2007

Wasteful ACC TV ads should be scrapped

National Party ACC spokeswoman Pansy Wong is welcoming ACC’s backdown on its misleading ‘covered’ ad campaign, but says rather than minor tweaks, the TV ads should be scrapped.

“The public already know ACC is a state monopoly. Spending $5.1 million on a marketing campaign telling everyone ACC is a monopoly is extravagant in the extreme.

“I’m sure the businesses and the workers who compulsorily fund ACC would prefer those millions were spent elsewhere.”

Mrs Wong says ACC’s promise to add an ‘eligibility qualifying’ statement would appear to fly in the face of the whole campaign message.

“Perhaps they could just change the name to the ‘You’re Probably Covered’ campaign?”

Mrs Wong has also taken Ruth Dyson to task for misleading answers used to defend the campaign spending in Parliament.

One of Ms Dyson’s reasons for supporting the marketing campaign was that it targeted Maori, Pacific Islanders and members of the Asian community who didn’t appear to be accessing services offered by ACC.

“But in the Minister’s answers to my parliamentary questions, it has been revealed that only $38,690 - a tiny fraction of the money being spent on the campaign - was specifically targeted at ethnic media.

“This has been a circus from start to finish. Ms Dyson needs to tell ACC to pull the pin.”

ENDS

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