Long-awaited ACC overhaul plan to be presented to MPs

Tuesday, 9 August 2022

A solution to fix the notoriously broken Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) system will today be presented to members of Parliament.

Ka tukuna tētahi uruparenga ki te pūnaha a Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara (ACC) i te rangi nei ki ngā mema Pāremata.

Barrister Warren Forster has completed an almost 100-page reform that offers a people-focused, single system for all, to replace the current scheme which he describes as disabling and discriminatory and says wastes resources arguing the causes of impairments.

Nā te rōia Warren Forster tētahi whakahōutanga hanga 100 whārangi te roa e whakahere ana i tētahi pūnaha kotahi mā ngā tāngata, mā te katoa, e whakakapia te kaupapa o nāianei, e ai ki a ia, e whakakore ana, e whakaparahako ana, e moumou ana hoki i ngā rawa mā te tohe i te pūtake o ngā whara.

Rather than becoming an “election football”, he hopes the proposal will gain cross-party support and co-operation to adopt what he believes would be a cheaper, fairer option within a decade.

Kei kīia nei he “whutupōro pōtihanga”, ko te kōingo ia ka tautokona e ngā pāti katoa, ka whakahaeretia tahitia e hua mai ai ko tētahi kōwhiringa ka iti iho te utu, ka taurite ake hoki, hei te ngahurutau e kainamu ana, hei tāna.

He will present the document to MPs at Parliament on Wednesday, which comes amid Stuff’s ACCountable series investigating the experiences of Kiwis needing support.

Ka tukuna te puka ki ngā MP ki te Pāremata hei ā Wenerei, nā whai anō i hua mai i tā Puna terenga pānui ACCountable, e whakatewhatewha ana i ngā wheako o ngāi Aotearoa e matea nei te tautoko.

Forster, who spent four years researching the country’s social insurance scheme under New Zealand Law Foundation Te Manatū ā-Ture o Aotearoa’s International Research Fellowship Te Karahipi Rangahau ā-Taiao, said ACC ministers were kept abreast of the reform proposal during its development.

E ai ki a Forster, kua whakapau i ngā tau e whā ki tā te motu kaupapa rīanga pāpori i raro i te mana o tā Te Manatū ā-Ture o Aotearoa karahipi, i tapaina ko Te Karahipi Rangahau ā-Taiao, kua whakamōhio atu ki ngā minita ACC rā te whanaketanga nei.

He spoke with hundreds of people – on top of a decade as an advocate for people facing ACC disputes – who have lived with disabling experiences, as part of his research.

E hia kē ngā rau tāngata i kōrerohia e ia i tōna rangahau – hei āpiti hoki ki āna mahi hapahapai i te ngahurutau kua taha ake nei mō te hunga e tohe ana i a ACC – kua pāngia e ngā wheako whakahauā.

The reform gave a roadmap of how to finish what Sir Owen Woodhouse intended in a 1967 royal commission of inquiry, he said.

He ara te whakahōutanga nei o te otinga i manakohia nei e Tā Owen Woodhouse i tētahi Kōmihana Arotakenga a te Karauna i te 1967, hei tāna.

The groundbreaking blueprint that Woodhouse laid out to create a single system of care and support no matter the cause of a person’s impairment, however, stagnated at the first stage. ACC was passed in Parliament in 1972, for injuries considered caused by an accident.

Kīhai te whakahoahoatanga a Woodhouse, e whakakotahi ai te pūnaha mō te tautoko me te manaakitanga, ahakoa te pūtake o te wharanga, i koke ake i tōna orokohanga. I whakamanahia a ACC e te Pāremata i te 1972, mō ngā wharanga i hua mai i te hauata.

“We started this world-leading work but have never taken the intended next steps, and now 50 years have passed and the job is not finished,” Forster said.

“I tīmata mātou i te mahi hirahira nei, engari kāore i koke whakamua ki ngā hātepe i kawatau, ka mutu, kua taha ake ngā tau e 50, kāore anō te mahi nei kia oti,” hei tā Forster.

“As we reflect back on the past five decades, we can see the reintroduction of fault. We no longer have a no-fault personal injury system.”

I a mātou e tiro whakamuri ana ki ngā ngahurutau e rima, kei te kitea te waihapenga o te hara. Kāore i a tātou tētahi pūnaha hara-kore mō te wharanga matawhaiaro.”

Forster’s report states: “We can become world leaders again in the field of care and support for all of our people, or we perpetuate the fragmented, incomplete and broken system that history has shown does not work.”

Hei tā Forster: “E oti i a mātou te tū rangatira i te ao, i te horopaki o te manaakitanga me te tautoko mō te iwi katoa, kei pākarukaru, kei kore e oti, kei whati te pūnaha haere ake nei, e kīia nei e te hītori e kore e tika.”

He recognised that its interaction with the proposed income insurance system – for people who lose their jobs through redundancy or illness to receive up to 80 per cent of their usual income for six months – would have to be carefully managed.

Kua whakaae ia, me āta whakahaere tōna nōhanga tahitanga ki te pūnaha rīanga whai pūtea e marohitia nei – tērā e taea ai e te hunga kua whakarērea nā te kore whai take, te māuiuitanga rānei, te whai kia 80 ōrau te pūtea whiwhi kia ono ngā marama.

But the proposal announced in February would not address inequity where support was higher for accident injuries than non-accident-related health conditions.

Engari e kore te marohitanga i puta i te Pēpuere e tae rā anō ki te whakatika o te manarite-kore, te rahi ake nei o te pūtea ki ngā wharanga huata, i te pūtea mō te āhuatanga hauora ehara i te hauata.

Or that most were excluded from employment to begin with and their need for income support lasted longer than 12 months.

Kāore rānei e tae rā anō ki ērā kua whakatahangia kē i te whiwhinga mahi, me te aha, kua roa ake i te 12 marama rātou e mate nei ki te whai tautoko ā-pūtea.

His reform would provide four enforceable rights to social and income support, habilitation and healthcare, implemented over time, and the development of a sustainable funding model.

Mā tāna whakahōutanga ngā motika whaimana e whā e ora ai ā tōna wā, arā, te tautoko ā-pāpori, ā-pūtea hoki, te whakahaumanutanga, me te whakaoranga ā-hauora, ā, ka hua ake hoki tētahi rautaki whāngai pūtea toitū.

Not only would it eliminate fragmentation of services but he believed billions of dollars would be saved by integrating the administrative costs and removing the requirements for boundaries within and between ACC, and the health and welfare systems.

Ehara i te mea ka hoepapatia te wehewehe o ngā ratonga, e ai ki ai, he tini piriona tāra ka penapenahia ina pāhekoheko mai ngā utunga whakahaerenga, ina wetekina hoki ngā hiahiatanga ārai o roto, o waenga hoki i a ACC, me ngā pūnaha hauora, whai pūtea hoki.

The reform’s funding would require innovation to become financially sustainable and move away from relying on taxation or levies.

E matea nei te pūtea a te whakahōunga te auahatanga e toitū ai, e kore ai e whirinaki ki ngā tāke me ngā utunga pēnā.

He proposed a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) like the superannuation fund, that would help increase “intergenerational equity”.

I marohitia e ia tētahi puna pūtea ā-motu (SWF) pēnei i te puna pūtea pēperekōu o nāianei, e rahi ake ai te “mana ā-whakareanga”.

Forster’s model would spread the return on investment across the system to fund the gap between taxation or levy collection, and health and social inflation.

Mā tā Forster tauira te penapenatanga e hora ake ki te pūnaha e whāngaia ai te āputa i waenga i te kohinga pūtea tāke, me te tāmi ahupūtea ā-pāpori, ā-pūtea hoki.

The sometimes controversial aspect of SWFs could be avoided by developing multi-party political consensus on its structures, funding into and use, he said.

Ka karo ngā wāhanga tautohetohe o te SWF mā te whakawhanake i tētahi whakaaetanga puta noa i ngā tini-pāti mō tōna hanga, te whāngaitanga pūtea, me te whakamahinga, hei tāna.

The new Ministry for Disabled People would consult and co-design the reform, he said, and it would meet the requirements of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and human rights commitments.

Ka urupounamu, ka whakahoahoa hoki te Manatū Whaikaha i te whakahōunga, e ai ki a ia, ā, ka tutuki i ngā hiahia o te Tiriti o Waitangi, te Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, me ngā ūnga motika tāngata.

Lawyer and disability advocate Dr Huhana Hickey MNZM has a lived experience of the inequity of services available created by being impairment-dependent.

Kua whai wheako a Tākuta Huhana Hickey MNZM, tētahi rōia, tētahi kaihapahapai whaikaha hoki, ki tētahi ao me ngā ratonga manarite-kore nā tāna whirinakitanga-whaikaha.

In a foreword to the report, she said Forster’s reform was something to be proud of and “take heed of”.

Hei kupu whakataki ki te pūrongo, i kī ia, me poho kūkupa i tā Forster pūrongo, me te aha anō, “me whai”.

“We finally have a clear and detailed approach on how we can transform our system and bring it up to date, while also addressing the funding issues which have long been the elephant in the room.”

“Anā, kua whai tātou i tētahi huarahi kua mārama, kua āmiki hoki mō te hurihanga o te pūnaha, e hōu ai, me te whai whakaaro tonu ki ngā raru pūtea kua roa nei e pūkana mai ana.”

Before being presented with the final reform, ACC Minister Carmel Sepuloni told Stuff the Government was addressing ACC inequities for women, Māori, Pacific, Asian and disabled populations, with changes to be announced before the end of the year.

Ā mua i te whakaatu i te whakahōutanga whakamutunga, i mea mai te Minita ACC Carmel Sepuloni ki a Puna, e tiro ana te Kāwanatanga ki ngā manarite-kore o te wāhine, te Māori, ngāi Moana, ngāi Āhia, me te hunga whaikaha, ka mutu, ka whakapuakina ngā panonitanga ā mua i te otinga o te tau.

Plans to realise Woodhouse’s 1967 dream of a social insurance scheme for anyone with an impairment was “certainly not off the table for a future Government” but it was not something it was currently working on.

Ehara i te mea “kāore e whai whakaaro tētahi kāwanatanga anamata” ki tā Woodhouse moemoeā nō te 1967, mō te kaupapa rīanga ā-pāpori mā te tangata whai wharanga, engari kāore i mua i te aroaro i tēnei wā tonu.

It was focused on improving outcomes for disabled people through Whaikaha – Ministry for Disabled People and the national roll-out of a new disability service model, Enabling Good Lives.

I te aro kē ki ngā hua mō te hunga whaikaha mā te Whaikaha, me te whakaputanga ā-motu o tētahi tauira ratonga whaikaha hōu, e Ora Ake Ai Te Oranga.

“I also anticipate the current health sector reforms will go some way to improve people’s experience with the health system.”

“E whakapae ana ahau ka nui ngā hua o te whakahōutanga rāngai hauora o nāianei ki te wheako o ngā tāngata i te pūnaha hauora.”

But Hickey said current models for disability outside the ACC model were “increasingly unsustainable” and without a reform to integrate income support, care and treatment, it would reach “crisis” point.

Engari hei tā Hickey, ka “kino kē atu te toitū” o ngā tauira whaikaha ki tua o ACC o nāianei, ā, ki te kore e whakahōu e whaiwāhi mai ai te tautoko ā-pūtea, te manaakitanga me te rauoratanga, ka kino te “mōreareatanga”.

“Even Enabling Good Lives … will not be sustainable without reforms to its funding regimes, and it provides no integration with income support, employment and healthcare which are essential to inclusion in society.”

“Ina Ora Ake Ai Te Oranga… e kore tonu tēnā e toitū me kore ake ko ngā whakahōutanga ki āna kaupapa pūtea, ā, e kore e pāhekoheko ki ngā tautoko ā-pūtea, te whiwhinga mahi, me te hauora, e waiwai nei te nōhanga ki te pāpori.”

Labour politicians have been vocal about the flaws of ACC in the past.

Kua komekome ngā ngutu o ngā kaitōrangapū Reipa mō ngā kino o ACC o mua nei.

Former prime minister Geoffrey Palmer's Labour Government tried hard to expand ACC to cover sickness in the late 1980s but the bill introduced to Parliament was overturned once National – which deemed it too expensive – won the 1990 election.

I whakapau kaha te Kāwanatanga Reipa a te Pirimia o mua, Geoffrey Palmer, ki te hora i te toronga a ACC ki ngā māuiuitanga i ngā tau 1980, engari i whakahēngia te pire e Nāhinara i tā rātou taenga ki te Pāremata i te pōtihanga o 1990 – e ai ki a rātou, kua nui rawa te utu.

Andrew Little advocated for a similar idea again in 2012, saying ACC was “unjust and discriminatory”, calling for the next Labour-led government to overhaul it.

I hapahapai a Andrew Little i tētahi ohia ōrite i te tau 2012, me te kī kua “mana kore, kua toihara hoki” a ACC, me te tono i te kāwanatanga Reipa e whai ake nei kia whakatikaina.

Former ACC minister Iain Lees-Galloway pointed out the inequities of the “taonga” system in his 2020 valedictory speech that he said were “impossible to justify”.

I tohua e te minita ACC o mua, Iain Lees-Galloway, ngā manarite-kore o te pūnaha “taonga” i tāna kauhau 2020, i reira ia kīia ai kua “kore e taea te whakamana”.

“New Zealanders should expect the same support whether they are injured or they fall ill,” he said.

“Me kawatau a ngāi Aotearoa i te tautoko ōrite ahakoa kua whara, kua māuiui rānei,” hei tāna.

Translation by Stuff Kaihautū Reo Māori Taurapa.

He whakamāoritanga nā te Kaihautū Reo Māori ki Puna, nā Taurapa.