Woodhouse Michael: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Text is subject to correction 
Woodhouse Michael: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 01 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4224. Text is subject to correction.] 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) 
: 
 Just listening to the previous speaker Andrew Little my mind drifted to an old Elton John song—remember the one from the 1970s or 1980s—that went something like this: “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”. I think there are a couple of members on the other side who might reflect on whether “sorry” is such a hard word to say for the things that they have said inside and outside this Chamber. But the biggest apology should come from the party and from the previous Labour Minister for ACC Maryan Street for the total mess that that party when in Government left ACC in. It seems like it is a broken record having to remind the public and members of this Committee what that mess was: $2.4 billion in 2008 and $4.2 billion in 2009. The member who has just resumed his seat talked about the almighty hash of ACC. I kind of agree with that; I just do not agree with the time frame that he was talking about. And I can think of a few worse Ministers for ACC in its history than the previous Minister Nick Smith. In fact I would suggest to that member that it is not quite mission accomplished but given the financial mess that this Government has inherited and the $7.2 billion— 
Sue Moroney 
: Ha ha! What a joke. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: See they chuckle they laugh and they think it is a joke. They think that somehow reporting a combined deficit of $7.2 billion is something of a joke. 
Andrew Little 
: It wasn’t a deficit. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: And that member when not a member of Parliament accused everybody else of a jack-up—accused the Minister— 
Andrew Little 
: This member can’t read accounts. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: I am sorry did the member say I cannot read an account? Well I am sorry I am only a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Apparently a union hack now can read accounts better than a chartered accountant. Well I am sorry but I think it is worth repeating something in this Chamber: how many times have you been an accountant— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: —has that member been an accountant? I apologise. We have heard that a bit before.  
Hon Member 
: How many times has he been sued? 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: That is right. Clearly if you think that a $7.2 billion loss is OK then somebody needs to go back to accounting school do they not? If they do not think the loss was real here is what was real: the 55 percent increase in levies that the levy payers of this country were faced with on average had the turn-round not been put in place—a 55 percent increase. That is not mythical. Every single levy payer in this country—every employer every employee every motor vehicle user every person who uses those services—was faced with a 55 percent increase. And why? Well it is a simple reason. The previous Labour ACC spokesman David Parker seemed to think it was because of the economic downturn. There is no doubt that the investment returns in ACC were lower as a consequence of the recession but that is only half the story. The simple fact is that ACC had budgeted for that and had built it into its levies. In fact its investment returns were higher than budgeted and certainly higher than the average returns being enjoyed by other institutional investors. Here is why— 
Hon Maryan Street 
: No they had not built it into their levies Mr Woodhouse. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: Ah welcome to the debate. It is a simple word I say to that member; it is just a five-letter word: it is “sorry”. And here is why: rehabilitation rates plummeted. Exit rates at 90 days 180 days and 12 months dropped. For every percentage that the rehabilitation rate at 1 year dropped that was $500 million more on the levy payer—$500 million more. The cumulative effect of that on the net present cost of the claims into the future was billions and billions and billions of dollars. It is absolutely not acceptable to say that ACC had a few billion dollars in the bank. It had a $24 billion liability. Thankfully it is being turned round. I congratulate this Government on being able to return half a billion dollars of levies back into the pockets of hard-working levy payers. There are some issues with privacy I accept that and I have a lot of sympathy for those who have been affected by the privacy leaks. But I am very very confident that the Minister is able to articulate very clearly what this Government’s expectations are for ACC. It is about restoring trust and confidence because no doubt they have taken a dent but I can tell the members they are much much higher than they were 3½ years ago when this Government inherited the mess and took office; it is continuing to fix the mess. I look forward to that continuing under this Minister.