Focus on ACC

Minister stalls on ACC levy cuts but confirms cuts to entitlements coming

ACC Minister Nick Smith appears to have confirmed today that he is stalling changes which would reduce ACC levies so he that can mask cuts to entitlements in the same legislation, says its ACC spokesman David Parker.

“Dr Smith has already confirmed that he plans to introduce legislation to push out the date by which the ACC Scheme needs to be fully-funded. Had he done it at the beginning of the year, as Labour planned, the ACC levies set for this year could have been lower.

“But he is continuing to drag the chain and to mislead the public on the reason for the delay, claiming it would increase ACC’s liability. This is not the case – rather pushing out the date would still reduce that unfunded liability every year. Again he is caught spinning the facts,” David Parker said.

“But given Dr Smith has already committed to doing this, the question that has to be asked is why is he delaying it?

“The answer is clear. He wants to use the legislation pushing out the full-funding date (which reduces levies) to justify simultaneous cuts to ACC entitlements.

“When asked if this was the case in Parliament today, Dr Smith confirmed as much. He said that as well as pushing out the full-funding date “it is absolutely plain that other changes will be required.”

“It’s time the Minister stopped scaremongering and came clean on exactly what entitlement cuts he is planning, instead of confusing people by including the effects on levies of extending the date for full-funding with cost savings from service cuts,” said David Parker.

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