Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Madam Speaker thank you very much for the opportunity to speak on the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill first reading. I acknowledge the Minister firstly for bringing this bill to the House. National will support this bill through to the select committee process.As the previous National spokesperson on ACC—and I do acknowledge the Hon Michael Woodhouse who is now the spokesperson—I'm going to cover a little bit of detail and context in regards to this because I have been quoted publicly in terms of feedback on this bill saying that it is sensible legislation. And acknowledging it is Christmas Minister I did think there was going to be a positive exchange there but you sort of jumped into a little bit of negative and I thought Oh gosh. Thought we were going to have a good night." But I'm going to keep it pretty positive because this is really important. This impacts between 17000 and 18000 women in this country every year. And it is not only a significant physical injury as a result of pressure during the birthing process—that's all the detail that I'm going to go into—but also the post-rehabilitation and the emotional and psychological effects of this type of injury that occurs and does occur on an ongoing basis for a large number of women. I think it needs to be recognised and that's why on this side of the House we are supportive of that.I think it's also important to acknowledge and I refer to some reporting done by RNZ in terms of Official Information Act process that actually there is a degree of bias within ACC towards women—and that as reported was driven by some of the lower claim lodgements by women and whether this reflects the potential around unmet need i.e. those that are living with injury but not seeking treatment or other aspects. I think this is and continues to be an area that we need to do better in I think would be fair in terms of particularly women and the support that they receive from ACC. I'm very much looking forward to our spokesperson for women behind me Nicola Grigg who will not doubt cover more of that in more detail.Nicola Grigg: Graphic detail.SIMON WATTS: Detail yeah—underlined bold capitals.I also want to refer to this bill as set in the context of some changes to the Accident Compensation Act 2001. And as the Minister has alluded to outside of the birth injuries element there are some what we would refer to as "minor amendments" and I'll cover a little bit of that later on. But ACC does have its problems and I think it is important to acknowledge that.We've spoken in the House and publicly in terms of media attention and rightly so around the sharing of private data and the issues that have come up around that as being part of a select committee process which again impacts on this bill—the attempts by us to get more focus in terms of ACC on aspects such as the case management system which will be a system that would deal with claims relating to this bill. We've been blocked in terms of trying to get that conversation happening.More recently probably one of the last aspects that I did when I was spokesperson was trying to get the select committee to do a briefing into ACC around the ongoing issues around privacy breaches and client personal information. And you can imagine in terms of the context of this bill the criticality and the importance of protection of personal information and the impact of that information being available in the public domain which is absolutely abhorrent but we have seen examples of that this year. I think there is an absolute expectation in regards to ACC managing aspects such as this that that aspect must improve rapidly. I am pleased in a way to see that the independent review by Treasury is under way for ACC as well.In regards to this bill one of the aspects that we're really keen to understand as we go through the select committee process—and as part of our democracy the select committee process is a really important aspect of this. I expect knowing the Minister she will contribute and participate and let the select committee do what they need to do but the costing element around this as I understand is somewhere in the region of $25 million. And while in the context of ACC's balance sheet that may seem somewhat small it is an area that I think we do need to make sure is robust in terms of its calculation. I think going back to my comment before around the potential risks for potentially a large number of women out there that may not have previously claimed for this type of injury what potentially is the scale of that unmet claim or the unmet need and the implications around that. I think that's important just in terms of an overall affordability conversation and that will be something that no doubt the select committee will undertake a robust assessment of as they go through.The other aspect that this bill relates to is as always—and it's always the conversation we have in regards to the ACC scheme—where do you draw the line? Where do you draw the boundary between what is covered by the system and what is not? There is a large number of—this is a very topical area but there are others in terms of that line. And I think the reality is though that this scheme is a scheme that is funded through employee-employer contributions and so while it's very easy to just include and broaden the coverage net there is a fiscal cost to that which needs to be borne by certain groups. I think that's always the balancing act around this specific bill and the affordability around that and other aspects around where that line is. And so again I expect the select committee process will go through that.The Minister referred to a couple of changes around hearing. I think when you start playing around with aspects around gradual change this is a complex area. It's a complex area in regards to the clinical assessment that is undertaken the pre-existing conditions that an individual may or may not have and the ability to isolate one specific aspect such as hearing loss and the absence of the environmental elements that that individual has incurred through their lifetime is often the clinical challenge around trying to say whether that injury or that aspect is covered or not covered. I think while the Minister may be critical towards where National were in the past it is just acknowledging that this is a complex area and I think that needs to be noted.I did want to comment a little bit around the element within the bill which is putting an additional board member on to the ACC board. I acknowledge that they are dealing with a complex significant balance sheet—in the region of $60 billion. And they've got eight independent individuals there. Obviously they've got the Hon Steve Maharey—18 years as a member of Parliament for Labour—who's now the chairman of that board. And I'm sure he's going to do a very thorough job but the introduction of another board member I think I would always question—eight's that sort of magic number around span and control and six of those eight board members are new to the board since 2021 right? So we're dealing with a new board and the introduction of potentially a seventh out of nine I think places quite a significant consideration around the continuity of that board and the experience and the ability for that board to be able to get up to speed acknowledging they have an acting CEO—actually a new CEO of course as well. So in light of the challenges that that entity has in regards to its operations I'm not really too sure what the value is but again that'll be something that will come through in terms of the select committee process.So I wish the select committee all the very best for what will be a robust process. I look forward to watching from afar in terms of this bill going through the House. You never know I might have the opportunity to speak on it again but I commend this bill to the House."