Calls to reform ‘sexist’ ACC

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) should cover people incapacitated by sickness and disability – and not just accidents – former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC says.

In a speech to Victoria University in Wellington, Palmer said drawing a line between injuries and other medical issues could be difficult and unfair.

A ‘‘single unified system’’ would end unjust discrimination.

Someone ‘‘laid low by cancer, a heart attack or stroke’’ was treated much less generously than someone suffering an accidental injury that resulted in the same incapacity, Palmer said.

ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway did not rule out Palmer’s proposal, but warned it would represent a fundamental change to ACC’s purpose, and would require ‘‘considerable public debate’’.

‘‘To achieve that level of change would require total political consensus.

‘‘The public appetite for that kind of change is currently unknown. It would be interesting to see if Sir Geoffrey’s proposal resonates with the public,’’ Lees-Galloway said.

Palmer said that, over the past few years, ACC’s decisions had become more ‘‘restrictive’’ and the organisation less people-oriented. ‘‘The lines of demarcation that were drawn in the current legislation are technical, difficult and sometimes unfair.

‘‘This was a scheme to do away with the need for lawyers when claiming compensation for personal injury. Now the legislation is so intricate that lawyers are often needed,’’ he said.

Dunedin barrister and ACC lobbyist Warren Forster said the current ACC system was ‘‘sexist’’ and the Government had to find a way to make the changes Palmer proposed. ‘‘The system we have now discriminates based on ‘cause’. Carers, teachers and people who work for government – predominantly women – don’t have very high rates of injury, but have very high rates of health-related problems.’’

Last year, ACC paid out more than $3.6 billion to claimants, and that bill would rise by ‘‘many billions’’ if sickness and disability was included. But that burden existed now and fell on individuals, Forster said.

It was possible the extra cost could be

‘‘This was a scheme to do away with the need for lawyers . . . Now . . . lawyers are often needed.’’ Sir Geoffrey Palmer

covered by ACC’s investment returns, if levies were returned to the levels that applied in 2012, he said.

Forster told a parliamentary select committee earlier this month that ACC had too much power to determine claims and more independent oversight was needed. ‘‘Every day I receive numerous phone calls and emails from desperate people who . . . don’t have access to justice.’’

The ACC organisation is midway through a $669m transformation project, the goals of which include increasing the productivity of staff by 20 per cent.

A business case released under the Official Information Act implied ACC would be able to make do with about 400 staff by 2022, assuming there was no increase in the number of claims it received.

ACC has carried out 47 restructures over the past five years, resulting in 270 redundancies and ‘‘significant impacts’’ to another 721 jobs, according to information released under the Official Information Act to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.

ACC chief talent officer Sharon Champness said that ‘‘over the past few years our customers have consistently told us our services have not met their needs’’.