Kaye Nikki: Accident Compensation (Financial Responsibility and Transparency) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: Accident Compensation (Financial Responsibility and Transparency) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 22 September 2015. Volume:709;Page:6839. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for ACC): I am very very pleased to speak on this Committee stage of the bill particularly focusing on Part 1—the principles of financial responsibility—but also dealing with the funding policy statement and I want to talk about that as well in the context of announcements that I made today.But first I want to correct a few things that the Opposition has already said. The first thing I want to say is that when we are talking about the principles of financial responsibility it is the members on this side of the Chamber who can talk about the principles of financial responsibility because we have taken a scheme that was in a $4.8 billion hole from $10 million of assets to $31 billion of assets. We have got all three accounts in solvency and members on this side of the Chamber need to be very proud of that.The second point that I want to make when we are looking at the Accident Compensation (Financial Responsibility and Transparency) Amendment Bill and the changes that were made in the bill—Sue Moroney has just said that maybe some of these changes around the principles could mean some kind of conspiracy theory. If you look at the law and what we have passed what we have acknowledged is that if you look at those principles of solvency and stability there will be unusual situations whether it is the global financial crisis or in fact the Canterbury earthquakes. The Canterbury earthquakes were a clear example where we had several hundred million dollars of claims made. They were adverse events and it is just acknowledging that although we want stability of levies there may be situations whereby it is not possible because we have got to deal with those adverse events. So the second point I want to make is that there is no conspiracy theory; these are logical principles of financial responsibility solvency and stability for New Zealand businesses.The next point I want to make is actually about the funding policy. The big thing about this bill which is highlighted in Part 1 is that we are in this luxurious positon where we have got the books in order the scheme has matured and we are able to balance a funding policy that enables us to deal with the inherent volatility but ensures that we are not over-collecting. I am very proud to say that—and today if you read my press release you would have seen it—the Government will be consulting as part of the ACC levy consultations on a funding policy of 100 to 110 percent over a 10-year period. What that says to New Zealand is actually that we will ensure that we have got stability in levies and we will also ensure that we can adequately deal with this volatility without over-collecting. We have done it so no more of the Opposition members standing up and giving speeches about how somehow we are over-collecting. It is not true you cannot prove it you do not have any of the numbers and you are going to have to stop running that argument.The next point that I want to make is actually around this whole point of ensuring that we do have good principles of financial responsibility in this legislation and transparency of that. I do want to acknowledge the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and their work on this particular part of the bill. Again we heard the Opposition member say: “Oh well maybe what this means is that the Government will go over there in a little corner by itself and not have transparency around what is actually happening in terms of the accounts.” Again what I would say to the member—and what I have tried to explain to her before—is that you cannot look at this bill in isolation in terms of particular clauses.What we are dealing with now is a framework that will enable not only a funding policy but publication of documents around how particular aspects affect the accounts whether that is entitlement provisions in the future or whether that is where you set the funding policy. That will be made public but I and members in this committee have gone even further and we have added another clause just to make sure there are no conspiracy theories here but actually there will be targeted consultation and I have confirmed in my press release today that there will be consultation as part of the ACC levy consultation next week on the funding policy.So again the Opposition says that we are over-collecting. That has been proven wrong. We have got a clear funding policy that shows that we are not. The second thing that is out there is that we are not going to consult on the funding policy. Well I have said that we are. We have got another clause in this bill and we will be doing it next week. Then finally there are so many businesses in New Zealand that have had to deal with what I think is volatility and the lack of stability. They are small businesses some of them and they do not have the ability to wear those costs. We are changing that with this framework. I think we are going to have much clearer transparent stable levy-setting.I am going to talk about the residual levy in a later aspect of the bill and I am sure that all members in this Chamber will be supporting the Government’s announcement today because they know better than anyone that this is one of the single best things that we can do to send the right signals around having the fairest possible levies.