Injury Prevention And Rehabilitation Bill
First Reading Speech
Hon Dr Michael Cullen
Minister For Accident Insurance
Mr Speaker, I move that the Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Bill be read a first time. It is proposed that the Bill
be referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee.
Mr Speaker, less than a year ago, this government introduced the Accident Insurance (Transitional Provisions) Bill,
which delivered on the government’s commitment to return responsibility for cover for workplace accidents to ACC. At
that time, I indicated that the Accident Insurance (Transitional Provisions) Bill was only the first step in a two-stage
process of reform.
The Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Bill represents the second phase of the government’s strategy. The Bill
provides for a fair and sustainable scheme for reducing personal injury. Injury imposes economic, social and personal
costs on individuals and their families, firms and communities. The Bill has as its overriding goals minimising the
overall incidence and impact of injury.
Mr Speaker, the title of this Bill represents a shift in the way we think about the scheme. It signals clearly that the
primary role of ACC and the scheme it administers must be, first and foremost, to prevent injuries from occurring. Where
injuries do occur, the focus must be on rehabilitating claimants. Rehabilitation is achieved through the provision of
comprehensive, well-tailored services that lead to a sustainable return to work and independence. While rehabilitation
occurs, claimants must receive fair compensation that reflects their loss of earnings.
The shift outlined above makes economic sense, as well as being fairer on claimants. An initial investment in injury
prevention activity, accompanied by expenditure on early rehabilitation, is likely to result in savings in the
long-term. The benefits of such savings accrue to claimants, their families and the community, as well as to premium
payers and the Crown.
The Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Bill is a large and complex piece of legislation. I would like, however, to
touch briefly on some of its more significant features.
As I have mentioned, the Bill establishes injury prevention as a primary function of ACC. This change needs to be seen
within the context of the government’s wider injury prevention framework. This provision will be accompanied by greater
investment by ACC in injury prevention strategies.
It will also be supported by a strengthening of the close working relationships that ACC has with other agencies - such
as the Occupational Safety and Health Service and the Land Transport Safety Authority - that can influence the
environment and behaviours that cause injury.
The Bill makes a number of changes with respect to weekly compensation. While these changes are not themselves of a
fundamental nature, they do address some issues faced by claimants who are not in ‘standard’ full-time or waged
employment. Areas of change include rectifying anomalies for claimants who have been receiving weekly compensation or
unpaid sick leave; or who have a pattern of seasonal work. The Bill also extends earner status to people injured while
on unpaid parental leave, from the date at which they would be due back at work.
The Bill also allows self-employed people greater scope to specify and purchase a package that best suits their
circumstances and needs. This further extends the flexibility introduced in the Accident Insurance Amendment Act. The
sum total of all these changes to weekly compensation is to provide greater security to those who are currently unable,
for various reasons, to plan for certain levels of compensation in case of injury.
In providing for lump sums for permanent impairment, the Bill goes a long way towards restoring fair levels of
compensation for those who suffer significant injury. Lump sums of between $2,500 and $100,000 will be payable to
claimants who suffer a whole-person impairment of between 10 percent and 80 percent respectively. Claimants will be
eligible once their condition has been assessed as having stabilised or after two years, whichever occurs first. For
claimants injured after the commencement date, lump sums will replace the existing Independence Allowance.
Those currently receiving the Independence Allowance will continue to do so. Assessing impairment is complex, and the
provisions in the Bill will be backed up by comprehensive regulations, to ensure that state-of-the-art assessment tools
and methods are utilised.
ACC claimants have a right to high standards of service; accurate and accessible information; and remedies in cases
where these standards are not met. In order to make the expectations that claimants should have of ACC very clear, the
Bill provides for the development of a Code of ACC Claimants’ Rights. The Code will be developed through a process of
widespread public consultation. Outcomes from the Code will be monitored as part of ACC’s accountability processes.
Effective injury prevention, rehabilitation and compensation strategies depend on good information.
The Bill makes a number of changes in this area. The Bill provides for the establishment of a role of ‘information
manager’, to facilitate the aggregation, analysis and dissemination of information collected by different agencies
active in injury prevention. Establishing such a function, and developing appropriate indicators, will involve
significant work, which cannot be done overnight. However, the framework set out in the Bill is a promising step towards
greatly improving evaluation, research and monitoring of agency and programme effectiveness in the injury prevention
area.
Mr Speaker, the Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Bill addresses the government’s key priorities in accident
compensation, while taking a prudent and responsible approach to fiscal and premium costs. As I have indicated, early
investment should reap longer-term savings through injuries foregone, and earlier and more sustainable return to work.
The government will continue to keep the scheme and ACC’s performance under close review, with the aim of ensuring as
fair and effective a scheme as possible.