Sepuloni CarmelACCIDENT COMPENSATION (MATERNAL BIRTH INJURY AND OTHER MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for ACC): I present a legislative statement on the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I move That the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Education and Workforce Committee to consider the bill.Next year it will be 50 years since the ACC legislation was first introduced here in New Zealand and ACC remains a unique and world-leading scheme. It is an integral part of our social support system in New Zealand and has become part of the fabric of our country. As Minister for ACC I want to make sure and our Government does as well that the system assists all New Zealanders who have had an injury and that the system is fit for purpose for New Zealand in the 21st century.Back in March I remember I'd just finished an interview at TVNZ's Breakfast I was en route to my next engagement and I read a Radio New Zealand article written by Anusha Bradley. The article was about the growing number of women experiencing injuries when giving birth and their struggle for treatment. It included one experience shared by a woman called Susan. It was a distressing read but I instantly knew that this was something that needed to change. I asked my officials to improve gender balance fairness and equity in the ACC scheme and birth injuries seemed like a reasonably important place to start. I was in the process of asking ACC for information about how different population groups including women were accessing support through the ACC scheme. It showed that women made fewer claims to ACC than men have fewer injuries covered by the scheme than men and each woman's claim cost the scheme a third less than a man's on average in entitlements.This reflects the inherent gender disparities in the scheme that are the result of its focus on accident-related physical injuries which are more common among men and in male-dominated types of work. It's not surprising given this scheme was set up to support the New Zealand workforce in the 1970s but it is time for us to begin addressing these disparities. New Zealand looks very different from what it did 50 years ago; our workforce looks very different from what it did 50 years ago. The bill represents a first step in that mahi by extending ACC cover to a specific list of maternal birth injuries.Eighty five percent of women in New Zealand experience an injury when giving birth. Some of these injuries are severe and share similar features to other physical injuries covered by ACC so it is only fair that they are covered too. The extension of cover will benefit up to 18000 more women per year who will be able to receive cover for maternal birth injuries. Enhanced cover will improve the support available to birthing parents suffering these injuries—in particular by providing more timely access to surgeries and pelvic physiotherapy. For those few severe cases where individuals are incapacitated for the longer term the additional benefits of ACC cover include access to non – means tested weekly compensation home help and rehabilitation.I'm really proud to present to the House a bill that will make a huge difference for the women that experience birth injuries and I'm very grateful for the support of a number of external groups from Parliament and women but also to the women in this House who have been very vocal in their support particularly those in the Green Party and of course in the Labour Party women's caucus.This bill is also about reversing some of National's 2010 changes. The bill also introduces changes that we meet our manifesto commitment to address the changes that National made when last in office which unfairly disadvantaged tens of thousands of New Zealand workers. The changes in the bill will clarify the section 30 test for work-related gradual process disease or infection cover and put the burden back on ACC to prove that a disease or infection is not work-related.The bill reduces the threshold for injury-related hearing loss cover from 6 percent to 5 percent hearing loss. Claimants with 5 to 5.9 percent injury-related hearing loss have a legitimate need for a hearing aid. The exclusion of these people from ACC cover by the previous National Government was a cruel cost-saving measure. This change ensures that an additional 200 people per year can access the support they need.The changes in the bill will also ensure that ACC considers what someone was earning before they were injured as part of its occupational assessments. This means certainty for claimants that if they suffer a covered injury they will be supported by ACC until they are able to return to a suitable job.Finally the bill makes a number of minor policy and technical changes. These changes are intended to improve the clarity and usability of the Accident Compensation Act and ensure that it is achieving its policy intent. This will improve the administration of a system that affects all New Zealanders.In summary this bill makes important changes to the scheme which will provide more support to injured New Zealanders more clarity on what is involved for gradual injury claims at work and more equitable cover for claimants and in particular women. I'm very proud of this particular bill and I'm looking forward to it making its way through the select committee and hearing what the submissions bring. I commend this bill to the House.