Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Bradford Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:620;Page:16086] 
3.  
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for ACC 
: What is the purpose of the Bold Perspectives Shared Objectives Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Conference that ACC is hosting in March 2005? 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister for ACC) 
: 
 The conference will bring together a number of top national and international experts on injury prevention and rehabilitation. It will provide a valuable opportunity to learn from international experience and research and for New Zealand to share the outstanding results of our unique and successful accident compensation scheme. 
Sue Bradford 
: Why has the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) selected as a keynote speaker Steve Longford an FBI-trained criminal profiler who works on counter-terrorism and serial violent crime and how does that fit in with the purposes of the conference? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Mr Longford was a guest speaker at the Australian Rehabilitation Providers Association conference in March this year and appealed to ACC because of his outstanding work in the area of family violence injury prevention. It is not an area on which we have particular expertise and I am looking forward to hearing his views. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: What proportion of accident compensation claimants are successfully rehabilitated within a year of their injury? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I am advised that over 90 percent of claimants are successfully rehabilitated measured by a combination of the rate of return to work and positive assessments of claimants gaining maximum independence. By world standards this is a first-class achievement. 
Peter Brown 
: Can the Minister give the House some idea of the estimate of the costs of this conference and will she guarantee that there will be benefits in the long term for accident compensation victims; if so how? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I am unable to give the final total costings for the conference but I am quite happy to forward that information to the member when it becomes available. I am confident when I look at the 30 or so speakers both from within New Zealand and international that it will be very worthwhile. 
Sue Bradford 
: Does the Minister consider that Steve Longford’s presence at the conference creates an appropriate perception among claimants of the corporation’s role in rehabilitation given that his current focus is on providing behavioural intelligence and deception detection expertise to counter-terrorist corporate and Government bodies around the world? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I think it is an added bonus that he is also an expert in counter-terrorism activities but that is not the primary reason we have invited him to an injury prevention conference in New Zealand. The reason for the invitation is his expertise in family violence prevention. 
Peter Brown 
: Can the Minister give us even the slightest indication of what this will cost or is it what we would term a “blank cheque” conference? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: No I cannot give the member any vague indication because I do not think that would be helpful to the member. It is certainly not a blank cheque. The fact is as I outlined in my answer to the previous supplementary question that I do not have the finalised costs available. When I do have them available I will be very happy to forward them to the member. 
Sue Bradford 
: Is the Minister concerned at all that despite her efforts to change the attitude of ACC towards claimants over the last 5 years ACC often retains its old culture of blaming rather than supporting accident victims—particularly long-term claimants—and risks intensifying that culture by viewing them via Mr Longford as potential terrorists and serial criminals? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: No I do not agree with that suspicion at all. In my view it would be more helpful for the member to acknowledge the reason Mr Longford is coming here and not add to any suspicion that would fuel the very concern she has about ACC.