Andrew
LITTLE
ACC Spokesperson

25 June 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
High-level panel needed to review ACC

Judith Collins should appoint a high-level panel to review ACC, says Labour’s ACC spokesperson Andrew Little.

“Thorough investigation is needed into how ACC manages long term claimants, in light of revelations that incentive payments have been made to staff who can move claimants on quickly.

"We need to see a panel made up of a senior lawyer, possibly a judge, a senior medic, possibly a professor of medicine and a senior public servant to go through how decisions have been made.

"Seeing the numbers who have been removed from ACC's cover and hearing from a few of those affected, there are real questions about the legal and ethical basis for some of these decisions," Andrew Little said.

"The issues are legal, medical and administrative and must be resolved if the agency is to regain credibility.

"Some of the cases I have heard about - with multiple medical reports being called for and people being taken off earnings related compensation then put back on - make for chilling reading.

“I am afraid there is growing speculation about the good faith of some decisions. It is in the public interest, and in the Minister’s interest, for this to be resolved as soon as possible,” Andrew Little said.

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