Fact Sheet 5 : ACC

This Fact Sheet was prepared for the July 2002 General Election campaign.

The Labour Alliance Government has re-established ACC as a national public fund scheme following the privatisation of the ACC Employers Account by the National NZ First Government in 1998.

In the past year one of the large Australian private insurers, HIH, which led the campaign for privatisation of our ACC has collapsed amidst allegations of mismanagement and fraud, and Australian private insurance premiums have risen considerably, and continue to rise substantially in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack.

The current New Zealand ACC premiums are now much lower than comparable privately underwritten cover in Australia.

Despite this National has announced in its election policy that it would again privatise ACC if elected to Government. ACT is similarly committed to privatisation.

The 2001 Act

The Labour Alliance Coalition Government has also passed the Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001 to upgrade entitlements and give greater priority to injury prevention and rehabilitation.

The new Bill goes some way to restoring fairness to ACC entitlements in:

- Emphasising rehabilitation
- reinstating lump sum compensation up to a maximum payment of $100,000,
- ensuring a more flexible approach to assessment of weekly earnings related compensation,
- introducing a new Code of ACC Claimant's Rights,

However, the Bill doesn't clearly define what the ACC role is in injury prevention (particularly in relation to other agencies), doesn't put strong enough obligations on either ACC or an injured worker's pre-accident employer to ensure that rehabilitation is maximised, and the retention of the work capacity assessment process will still provide an incentive for ACC and an employer to terminate compensation on the basis of a notionally available job rather than focus on innovative rehabilitation.

The Bill still doesn't guarantee that injured workers will get treatment at no cost to them as the ILO convention requires. Similarly, the regulated approach to meeting costs, such as travel costs to get treatment, remains.

It remains to be seen whether the new Code of Claimant's Rights will contain any service and fairness standards which can be enforced, and there are still widespread complaints about hard-nosed and unsympathetic ACC case managers.

Additional CTU Policy Objectives

The CTU Policy Statement sets out further policy statements including those below.

Continuing the rebuilding of a national public fund accident compensation scheme which fully meets, in a modern context, the original social contract commitment to community responsibility, comprehensive entitlement, real compensation, complete rehabilitation, and fair administration.

Ensuring that occupational disease is properly recognised and covered by ACC

Developing systems of entitlement within the existing social welfare system which mirror ACC entitlements for persons who are disabled but not within ACC cover.

Developing and implementing, on a tripartite basis, effective workplace based injury prevention, rehabilitation, and support/advocacy and assistance for injured workers.

Download the document here (pdf, 23kb)