Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Chairperson of the Education and Workforce Committee): Thank you very much Madam Chair. And yes indeed as the chair of the Education and Workforce Committee I'm happy to take a call on this debate.I'm going to provide a quick outline of the process our select committee followed in considering the annual reviews on the Accident Compensation Corporation and WorkSafe New Zealand. This year in line with the review of the Standing Orders 2020 we took a sector-wide approach to the annual review process. In this case considering ACC and WorkSafe we decided to report on the labour market as a whole rather than reporting on each entity separately. We invited the Minister the Hon Carmel Sepuloni to speak on the broader themes and issues she's working through in her portfolio. What this new process allowed us to do was to not only consider the findings of the individual agencies but how they relate to each other and also what sector-wide outcomes are being achieved for New Zealand.I also want to take this opportunity to thank the Hon Michael Wood Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety for his contribution to the select committee at this process. Because what that provided us was to have a further sector-wide lens a view on the issues.But focusing on the ACC part of the overview the Minister for ACC went into details on the big role that ACC has had to play since COVID-19 spread to New Zealand. She told us about the work her office is doing to look after pre-existing claimants and whānau in ensuring their safety as well as proactively modifying the way that treatment and support were provided.We had officials from various Government departments providing useful further information on how ACC are improving their service to claimants. They talked in particular on the introduction of a new case management model which was completed in 2020. We heard that since the model was introduced ACCs client satisfaction rates have significantly improved. The Minister said that the Government had made the decision in July 2020 to keep levy rates unchanged until 2022. We heard that this decision has helped ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 and also at the same time it provided more certainty for businesses.Our committee was also pleased to hear about ACC's work to improve outcomes for Māori. We heard about their strategy Whāia Te Tika and the three focus areas there. We heard about initiatives that are supporting this particular strategy including introduction of a Māori customer advisory panel and the testing of a Whānau Ora model for the provision of home-based disability and support services.The committee considered many more aspects of ACC including its contribution to support New Zealand's efforts to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050. The committee was pleased to learn that in a great display of timeliness ACC had already taken steps to reduce their emissions and in August 2020 had introduced a climate change framework.We sought information on what investment ACC was making to prevent workplace injuries and in particular in the higher risk areas of industries like farming construction and forestry. We learnt about ACC's views on the dealing with psychosocial harm in ACC cases as well. That has given us something to look forward to hearing about.It was a robust review and just like when I opened the Estimates debate earlier this year for the education sector I wanted just to acknowledge the new format that we considered these entities within. I thank the Ministers for giving their time to the committee. It gave us an opportunity to have a very robust debate about the future of the labour sector in New Zealand and at the same time that provided for increased parliamentary scrutiny. Thank you Madam Chair.