‘Less than adequate’ – Govt proposes ACC reform
The Government is proposing changes to a controversial Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) scheme in a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of New Zealand workers.
ACC Minister Carmel Sepuloni wants to introduce new rules for ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme, which is used by more than 100 major companies across the country. The changes will affect 25% of the New Zealand workforce.
Under the scheme, employers are given a discount on their levies if they promise to care for workers hurt on the job. They are bestowed with powers normally reserved for the Government and trusted to fund the rehabilitation and compensation of injured staff.
The disgusting right myth spread by right wing liars is that NZ is an over taxed, over regulated economy when that is total bullshit!
In a recent column, Max Rashbrooke highlighted the horror of NZs under regulated market…
The bad news is that, to investigate 200,000-300,000 terrible rentals, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has employed a frontline inspectorate numbering … 37. Each inspector will have to check somewhere between 5000 and 8000 rentals.
…there is only 37 inspectors of rental properties for 300 000 terrible rentals?
Similar poorly funded regulation is apparent in the 82 labour inspectorates who are supposed to police hundreds of thousands of migrant worker exploitations!
Time and time and time again in New Zealand we see an old boy matrix of vested interests who occupy market dominance and act like a monopoly, duopoly or oligopoly raking in vast wealth while leaving the local small and medium sized operators outside the cosy relationships!
Up and down NZ, small and medium enterprises are unable to compete because of the lack of basic regulation in the market!
We’ve seen it with the Supermarket duopoly, the medicinal cannabis oligopoly, the Gib Board monopoly – each time under regulated and poorly regulated capitalism continues to screw over us the consumers at a time of a cost of living crisis!
Frustration inside the drainage industry has reached boiling point recently with anti competitive practices and crony capitalism that would make your average South American Drug Cartels blush.
We are not an over taxed, over regulated economy!
Our top tax rate is the 39th highest in the world behind all the Scandinavian countries plus Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and South Africa!
Australia’s top tax rate is 47cents!
Our GST rate doesn’t even get us into the top 50 and our corporate tax rate is 40th while Government spending against GDP ranks 56th!
And we are voted easiest to do business by the World Bank!
Carmel Sepoloni, who is easily the worst insider in Cabinet, is still allowing the crony capitalism of these pricks who through their vast wealth and power are able to bypass ACC rules to shit all over workers who are hurt on the job.
I’m not looking for socialism here folks, just basic garden variety regulated capitalism!
The fact that these rich companies can bypass the regulations because of their power, and then when they damage workers don’t have to look after them is a fucking outrage!
The scheme is used by some of the country’s most recognisable businesses and entities, including Police, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Fletcher Building, Foodstuffs and the Ports of Auckland, as well as multiple universities, banks and councils.
1News highlighted the programme earlier this year as part of an investigation intoTalley’s Group, one of the country’s biggest employers using the programme.
The story revealed an ACC monitoring report in February 2020 found “consistently inaccurate” payments by the Talley’s Group to workers hurt at its meatworks.
So a special scheme that allows the powerful and wealthy to get away with damaging their workers and not looking after them?
How charming.
This country is a network of old boy nods and winks that produce monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies.
The Governments responsibility to Capitalism is to regulate it so that consumers have actual choice, in NZ we pretend to be regulated when it reality the Government allow the big players to write the rules while we suffer…
But two experienced lawyers were sceptical, saying the programme still gives too much power to private companies.
ACC lawyer Peter Sara has helped many workers challenge accredited employers. He described the AEP as an “experiment which has failed”.
“It continues to fail, but if there is some strong commitment to continue with this programme then, no, I don’t think that these reforms go anywhere near far enough in terms [of] actual reform,” he said.
“I think the Minister’s statements are lofty aspirations, but I suppose the cynic in me, after all these years thinks, well, is that really going to happen?”
Sara said there was still a clear “conflict of interest” for employers.
“They’re wearing two hats – they’re wearing the hat of an employer and they’re wearing the hat of an ACC provider – and the two are not good bedfellows, they just don’t work together,” he said.
…right wing lies and mythology dictate the narrative and gloss over the total failure by Government to regulate capitalism.
This country is a fucking joke.
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How many more far right economic policies do this labour government have to produce till people realize they are same as the last lot, extremely anti worker assholes?
They are just liberals, right wing liberals. Who don’t really care about anyone, but will react if their image will be tainted.
It’s like the early 1900’s all over again, a liberal party moving further and further to the right economically.
Whilst working people are about to get right royally screwed over
How very true Martyn. This country needs a good shaking, and the weak, right leaning labour goons aren’t the ones to do it for us. Mind you, neither are Luxon and his bunch.
Let’s hope the Greens, TPM and TOP are busy getting their bottom lines together now – lines they will not cross when it comes to coalition negotiations. And that they are letting Labour know through back channels.
It’s probable that we’re going to have to face 3-6 years of the gNActoids as things stand come ’23 but it’s probably the only way Labour will get the message.
There’s another shocker about to break (comes as no surprise to me) with that bugger’s muddle called MBIE. That’s the Ministry with under-resourced worker bees at the coalface and more senior PMC empire builders – including ex-police who’ve come to realise their careers weren’t going to go any further if they stayed put. Unfortunately there are Labour Ministers that think the sun shines out of its arse.
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