31 March 2002
“The commencement of the new ACC Act marks a victory for the unions and community organisations which have been
campaigning for 10 years as COAC, the Coalition on Accident Compensation,” Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson
said today.
The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2000 comes into effect tomorrow, 1st April.
“COAC, a coalition of union, disability and women’s organisations, has been campaigning for almost 10 years against the
unfairness of the 1992 Act and the 1998 Act which replaced it,” Ross Wilson said.
“The new Act addresses many of COAC’s concerns and provides the foundation on which to rebuild a modern social insurance
scheme.
“In particular the restoration of lump sum compensation for workers and other New Zealanders, who lose limbs and suffer
other appalling injuries in accidents is long overdue”.
Ross Wilson said the challenge now was to ensure that the scheme is administered fairly.
“A hard-nosed insurance culture has permeated ACC during the past decade and it needs to change,” he said.
“New Zealand employers have the cheapest workers’ compensation scheme in the world. The CTU will be taking active steps
to monitor ACC performance and campaign for a scheme which is also the fairest in the world.”