Hutchison Paul: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:609;Page:6480] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (NZ National—Port Waikato) 
: 
 I thank the Committee for the opportunity to speak on the Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill for which Colin James suggested in this morning’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 a perfect title when he talked about the sneaky taxes we do not see coming. Indeed an apt name for the bill would be the “Sneaky Taxes We Don’t See Coming Bill”. This is one of a long list of the LabourGovernment’s stealth taxes that this nation has been subjected to. Even from the beginning when it started to raise the general tax it mentioned that but then it went on to the tobacco excise tax of over $110 million the alcohol tax the sherry tax on the elderly not to mention— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member; however the debate is on the title. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Quite right and indeed— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: Just a moment please. I am speaking. The debate on the title clause in Committee is limited strictly to the elements of that clause—does the proposed title adequately describe the bill?—and I would ask members to keep to that please. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Thank you very much for reminding me. As I was saying I believe that Colin James aptly described what the title should be—that is the “Sneaky Taxes We Don’t See Coming Bill”. However there are other possibilities for the name of the bill and one that would be entirely appropriate would be the “Ruth Dyson Increases ACC Levies by 25 Percent This Year Bill”. The rationale behind the increase according to the Minister is that there are better ways to estimate the levy. It just so happens that the Government has discovered better ways to estimate the levy 3 years in a row. This year it has topped it off by a 25 percent levy increase. Undoubtedly the name the “Ruth Dyson Increases ACC Levies by 25 Percent This Year Bill” is also totally appropriate. 
But let us just look at the name of the bill as it stands: it is the so-called Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill. We should look seriously at that title which encompasses injury prevention and what we do know is that while road deaths might have gone down marginally in the last few years serious and moderately serious injuries have gone up in the last few years under the Labour Government. It was quite clear— 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Fewer people are dying. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: That may be so. It may be because fewer people are dying but the actual figures are quite substantial. Under a National watch moderate to serious injuries were about 79000 in 1998-99. By 2000-01 they had gone up to 83900 and by 2001-02 they had gone up to 93800. It is a huge worry when the title ofthe bill focuses on injury prevention yet after almost 4 years of this tedious Labour Government we have seen that very serious increase in moderate and serious injuries in this country. 
However one other absolutely appropriate possibility for the title would be the “Labour Government’s Failure to Establish Relative Risk Rating Bill”. Because all the bill does and quite rightly so is spread the levy between the petrol tax and the registration. What it does not do and what this Labour Government has failed to do is acknowledge the fact that accidents are related to a whole variety of things and it has only that very narrow scope related to how much petrol one uses and to the type and size of vehicle. That is totally unrealistic and unlikely to do what the title of the bill suggests which is to achieve injury prevention because it does not give the signals to users that they should take greater care.