Chris
HIPKINS
ACC spokesperson

21 March 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Minister fails to reassure on ACC cover

New Zealanders are likely to end up with less ACC cover and entitlements in the event of an earthquake or natural disaster if National pushes ahead with its plans to privatise the ACC work account, Labour’s ACC spokesperson Chris Hipkins said today.

“In Parliament today I challenged Nick Smith to come clean and give all New Zealanders an assurance that they would receive the same level of accident compensation in the event of a natural disaster as those in Christchurch have received. He repeatedly dodged the issue because it’s quite clear under his privatised ACC model, no such reassurance could be given,” Chris Hipkins said.

“The National government was only able to offer compensation for the first week off work to those injured in the Christchurch earthquake because ACC is a universal, comprehensive scheme. If National carve it up as they intend to, future governments won’t have that option.

“What’s more, if a sudden influx of claims caused by an event such as an earthquake caused one of the private insurers to go broke, lots of New Zealanders could end up with no ACC cover at all. It’s disgraceful for the National government to take that gamble with other people’s welfare.

“When National last attempted to privatise ACC one of the big players was an Aussie insurance company called HIH. They went broke and the Australian government ended up having to bail them out to the tune of over $500 million. That’s the sort of risk we will face here if National proceeds with its ideologically driven privatisation plans again.

“The Christchurch earthquake has highlighted just how vulnerable we are here in New Zealand and just how important our world-leading ACC scheme is. National should keep their privatising hands off it,” Chris Hipkins said.

ENDS

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