Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

ACC not interested in levy hike views

Alliance Party: ACC not interested in levy hike views after sham consultation

Alliance Party Media Release – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

The Alliance Party is unsurprised that the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has left levy rate hike proposals unchanged following their recent sham public consultation.

“This is confirmation that ACC is not interested in the public’s views on these hikes, which are largely negative,” says Alliance ACC spokesperson Chris Ford.

The Alliance believes that the consultation on the hikes was a mere sham designed to smother legitimate public fears. Mr Ford says the corporation is being sized up for privatisation and that the so-called ACC crisis is just a manufactured sham.

“Just like the Fourth Labour Government’s devaluation crisis and the Bolger National Government’s BNZ bailout crisis, this is a politically generated crisis.”

He says the fiscal gap that ACC claims in terms of long-term claimants doesn’t really exist.

“After all, ACC has recorded a surplus in the last two financial years where revenue (from levies and investments) exceeded claims paid. Furthermore, ACC’s investment portfolio has recently reported increased returns due to the global economic recovery.”

Mr Ford says any problems are due to a pre-funded instead of pay-as-you go regime for ACC.

“It seems strange that other taxpayer funded social services like health and education are funded on a year-by-year basis whereas for ACC this rule now doesn’t apply. After all, it once used to. This change initiated by the previous Labour Government should not have been made as it has just served as an excuse for this National Government to begin a renewed attack on the corporation.”

The Alliance Party is committed to a fully funded, pay-as-you-go ACC system based on the Woodhouse principles of 24 hour, seven day a week, no fault cover.

In Parliament, the Alliance would actively push for ACC to reverse its present levy hikes and restore full cover for those to whom it will soon not apply.

Ends

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle

The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out - for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable view is that the government was being deliberately misleading. Are we to think Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a fool, or a liar? It seems rather early on in his term of office to be facing that unpleasant choice. Yet when Luxon (and senior MP Chris Bishop) tried to defend the indefensible with the same wildly inaccurate claim, there are not a lot of positive explanations left on the table.... More


 
 
Public Housing Futures: Christmas Comes Early For Landlords

New CTU analysis of the National & ACT coalition agreement has shown the cost of returning interest deductibility to landlords is an extra $900M on top of National’s original proposal. This is because it is going to be implemented earlier and faster, including retrospective rebates from April 2023. More


Green Party: Petition To Save Oil & Gas Ban

“The new Government’s plan to expand oil and gas exploration is as dangerous as it is unscientific. Whatever you think about the new government, there is simply no mandate to trash the climate. We need to come together to stop them,” says James Shaw. More

PSA: MFAT Must Reverse Decision To Remove Te Reo

MFAT's decision to remove te reo from correspondence before new Ministers are sworn in risks undermining the important progress the public sector has made in honouring te Tiriti. "We are very disappointed in what is a backward decision - it simply seems to be a Ministry bowing to the racist rhetoric we heard on the election campaign trail," says Marcia Puru. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.