McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you sir. It's marvellous to be able to stand here and speak in favour of this bill because it does something that is needed to something that is very special in this country. The ACC scheme is indeed the envy of the world. What a marvellous socialist idea ACC is—the scheme that is no-fault. So it doesn't matter who you are or what situation if there's an accident then you will be covered for the needs that you have in that situation.It was indeed brought in under the third Labour Government in 1974. There have been numerous attempts over time to undermine the ACC scheme but it is wonderful to stand here today and see that there is a bipartisan approach to looking at making sure that ACC fits the needs of this country. It is wonderful to see the National Party stand up here and indeed—actually no fair dos. It's wonderful to see a bill that they did a lot of the groundwork on when they were in Government to introduce this. I commend them for that and of course the Minister now the Minister for ACC the Hon Iain Lees-Galloway—I commend the work of him and his officials to get this where it is today.Nearly one in three New Zealanders made an ACC claim last year—in the 2016-17 year—most of whom of course received excellent treatment. It is indeed a wonderful scheme ACC. I myself have claimed—as have I'm sure most members in this House—and called on ACC at some point. When you are as bad at rugby as I am you need something like ACC there to protect you and that's exactly the situation that I've found myself in a number of times.What is good to see about ACC is that it is in tremendous financial health and because of that we are able to look at extending some of the provisions that the ACC scheme offers New Zealanders so that it does become relevant to New Zealanders today. This Government is of course determined to ensure that all New Zealanders receive the best-possible care when they are sick or injured and that is why we are determined to repair the previous nine years of neglect in the health system and also why we're looking to make the ACC scheme fairer for claimants.There are a couple of things that come under here in the package of amendments looking to amend the Accident Compensation Act 2001. A number of those have been covered already in this House thus far. Extending ACC cover to spouses or partners and dependants of New Zealand employees posted offshore is something that would not have been considered when this legislation was put in place but of course now the changing nature of work and the fact that it draws people overseas mean that extending ACC cover to include people in that situation is indeed fair and right so it's good to see that that is included here. Also it is allowing surviving spouses to receive up to 5 years' weekly compensation regardless of age. On a bit of a personal note I had an uncle that passed away on his farm as a result of an accident and ACC was able to support his family support his wife and his children for a number of years after that accident. If ACC wasn't in place in order to do that my family would have missed out and been under severe financial strain as a result of that accident so on a personal level it is very pleasing to see that we are not only recognising that which is in place but extending it now to become more relevant.Moving from an annual review to a biennial review of the Accident Compensation (Liability to Pay or Contribute to Cost of Treatment) Regulations 2003 as well as automatically updating the maximum and minimum liable earnings to the minimum wage and the Labour Cost Index respectively may not seem in isolation to be significant things but they are important and that is why this Government has brought this bill to the House now recognising that there is a review of ACC due in 2019. We could have waited till then but if something needs to be done we may as well get on with it and do it now. So it is pleasing because of course this bill is about fairness. It's about making sure that ACC is as relevant in 2018 as it was when it was first brought in under the third Labour Government in 1974. Touching on some of the examples that people from both sides of the House have mentioned now the issue around electing between superannuation and ACC is a big one. I congratulate the Minister for the work he's done and I commend this bill to the House.