Smith Nick: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Smith Nick: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:660;Page:9148] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for ACC) 
: 
 The member Maryan Street has the cheek to talk about responsibility in relation to our accident compensation scheme. Let us look at the facts that relate to her period as Minister for ACC. Which Minister was responsible for running the scheme down so badly that during her last year as the Minister it incurred a loss of $2.4 billion? I ask Maryan Street what was irresponsible having declared to this Parliament a loss of $2.4 billion about then adding 12 additional aspects to the scheme? Which members in this Chamber believe that those unfunded extensions were responsible? They were not. That member is unfit to ever hold a ministerial warrant in this country again in any area where she has financial responsibility. 
Even worse than that Maryan Street was advised in July 2008 of the $300 million shortfall in the non-earners account. What did she do? She hid it. She hid it in breach of the Public Finance Act. In fact it is a matter of public record— 
Hon Maryan Street 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. The Minister knows that there was an inquiry which said that was not true. The Minister has misled the Committee. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Points of order are about order. The member is making a point about the content of what a person said. That is not about order; that is a debatable point. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. This is a fresh point of order. I accept your ruling. Is it in order for the member who is on his feet to accuse another member in the Chamber of breaking the law? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I would make two points to the member. Firstly generally it is not. Secondly at the moment when the offence was committed the member should have taken a point of order. 
Lynne Pillay 
: She did. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: No the member Maryan Street was not saying it was an accusation about breaking the law; her point of order was on a slightly different tack from that. Had the member said she had been accused of breaking the law it would have been taken differently. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Let us be very clear about the public record. Labour members are sensitive and I will tell members why they are sensitive. They know the public will never again trust them with the Treasury benches given the sort of mismanagement that occurred with regard to the accident compensation scheme. In August 2008 Maryan Street received a memo stating that the non-earners account required an additional appropriation of $300 million. I will tell members how significant that was. Members on this side of the Chamber will know that one of the key issues of the election campaign was the affordability of policies and we had argued as a front-bench team very tightly over matters as small as $10 million not $300 million. Let us go back and look at the television clips of the election campaign. Maryan Street knew that when the Government opened the books—and it was the lead story in the middle of the election campaign—there was another $300 million nasty surprise. 
Let me tell the Committee how I started my career as the Minister for ACC. The Prime Minister phoned me on the Sunday night and told me my portfolio mix. I was immediately phoned by officials from the Department of Labour who offered to fly urgently to Nelson. I said to them that surely I could wait until I had my warrant but they said it was urgent that I should be aware of a very serious problem in accident compensation—a very serious problem that Maryan Street had known about for months but that she had swept under the carpet. 
Maryan Street had breached the Public Finance Act and her career will forever have a black mark for her irresponsibility. I will not be lectured on responsibility in this Chamber by that particular member who is yet to apologise for the damage that she did to accident compensation. I will talk about some of the facts about Maryan Street’s record. It is a matter of fact that in Maryan Street’s last year she signed off on Accident Compensation Corporation accounts that showed a $2.4 billion loss. I will tell members how serious that was: last year’s accounts for New Zealand showed an overall loss of $10 billion and nearly half of that was because of accident compensation. 
But now that member and her colleagues have the cheek to go on the campaign trail to protest against levy increases and in the next breath to protest about any reduction in entitlements. Labour is saying to New Zealanders that they can have a fully funded scheme they can have more entitlements and they can have reduced levies. Who believes that? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Before I call Sue Moroney I just ask the Minister whether he would like to write down the name of the audiologist he went to; I want a test to see whether I have any industrial deafness!