Brown Peter: General Debate 
Brown Peter: General Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20246] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 The only thing the previous speaker proved to this side of the House was that she does not understand anything about road funding. 
Darren Hughes 
: Does Don Brash? 
PETER BROWN 
: No Don Brash does not; but neither does the honourable member. I have to say to my colleague Larry Baldock that it is not acceptable for him to come into this House and rave on about prostitution. His party has prostituted itself—big time! It could have stopped that legislation in its tracks. The member claims that his party stopped the cannabis legislation. That would have been in the same mould. He claimed that but we know that Jim Anderton would not have allowed that legislation to go ahead. It is in the same area as GST on rates—big noise outside; nothing in here. Smoke-free legislation: the same—big noise outside; nothing in here. Civil union legislation is another one—big noise outside; nothing in here. Even with the definition of “family” that party makes a big noise outside but has no knowledge of what a family is when it comes to approving legislation. However that is just me giving vent to a little steam. 
I want to talk about the physiotherapists in this country. Some time ago the Government brought in what it calls the endorsed provider network and it wanted every physiotherapist in the country to sign up. In theory the scheme is good because it means that an accident victim does not pay anything. Visits to physios would be free basically. The taxpayer pays. But because the deal put to the physiotherapists was so poor and because there had been no meaningful consultation many physiotherapists would not accept it. A few in Christchurch accepted it but effectively none in Auckland and very very few in the Waikato area and other areas did. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The member opposite thinks it is a joking matter. Let me say that it is far from that. The Minister for ACC through the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has given instructions to bring these guys into line. It is the biggest bully-boy tactics I have ever heard of in New Zealand. They are being told that they are subject to a random audit but in fact they are being audited by the ACC fraud unit. The ACC accreditation standards are flawed. Some argue they are non-existent. 
The cost of accreditation for a physiotherapist with a practice certificate in this country is somewhere between $20000 and $30000. In Australia it is $500. In this country it takes 18 months to become accredited. In Australia it takes only a couple of weeks. Is it any wonder that some senior physiotherapists in this country are closing their doors? Is it any wonder that if some have not already closed their doors already they are considering such action. It is my understanding that the ACC fraud squad consists of several former South African police officers. It is not an interview that they subject physios to; it is an interrogation. It is in-the-face interrogation. It is a deliberate tactic by the Accident Compensation Corporation with the Minister’s knowledge to bring physios into line. 
Today in the House I asked a question of the Minister for ACC in relation to her answer to a written question but as she was not here the Minister of Finance answered it. He had to state that it was only half right and the half he said was correct was wrong. He was right when he said that the half that was wrong was wrong. In other words the answer to the question was absolute garbage. I am prepared to say that it was actually a pack of lies. Whoever compiled that answer knew what he or she was putting down on the piece of paper. I tell Government members that that is not good enough.