1 December 2009
Massive levy increases will undermine ACC

ACC's failure to address the concerns of a record number of submitters in its levy recommendations is disappointing but comes as no surprise, Green Party ACC spokesperson Kevin Hague said today.

ACC today made public the 2010/11 levy rates it has recommended to the Minister for ACC.

Apart from recommending a slightly lower motor vehicle levy, the rates recommended by ACC are the same ones that have sparked protests throughout New Zealand due to large across-the-board levy increases.

“ACC Chair John Judge's claims that massive levy increases are necessary to avert a financial crisis are rubbish. Last year ACC's revenue was $1.5 Billion more than its claims expenditure,” said Mr Hague.

“The so-called crisis is based on the insistence by the Government that the ACC scheme be fully pre-funded by 2019.

“The reality is that ACC functioned perfectly well for 25 years from its inception in 1974 by funding each year's claims from that year's revenue.

“The fully pre-funded model was introduced in 1998 as part of the then National-led Government's failed experiment of privatising ACC's work account and turning ACC into an insurance scheme.

“The Government is manufacturing a crisis to justify increasing ACC levies while cutting New Zealander's cover and entitlements.

“The real agenda is to make ACC as unpopular as possible to soften up public opinion for the eventual plan to carve bits of it off to privately-owned insurance companies.”

Mr Hague said the Green Party supports ACC reverting to ‘Pay As You Go’ funding and to the original principles it was based on.

“Do that and the so-called 'crisis' will disappear.”

ENDS

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