Turia Tariana: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13957] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker; tena tatou e te Whare. It is always a good thing to be able to come to this House and know that we are debating legislation that if implemented well and with some changes will make a difference in the quality of people’s lives. The quality of life for Maori workers in relation to their experiences with injury prevention rehabilitation and compensation has not always been a topic that I can talk about with much joy. We know only too well that injury is the leading cause of death for Maori for the first three decades of life. Maori are overrepresented in injury statistics across all age groups and in employment and sports. Most of these injuries are preventable.  
We know also that Maori aged 25 to 64 particularly men are more likely to be injured at work than non-Maori. This reflects the types of occupations in which Maori men are overrepresented such as manual and trade occupations manufacturing and construction. Occupational segregation operates to maintain Maori in more high-risk employment. High-risk occupations which are those with high rates of new workplace injury claims are agriculture manufacturing construction and forestry. These come after hunting fishing and mining. 
It is not just a matter of Maori having such dire experiences of injury statistics; it is also a matter of the fairly negative experience of having to go to the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) itself. Research from Dr Peter Jansen on  
Maori consumer use and experience of health and disability and ACC services  
reveals that Maori are currently not receiving entitlements to care rehabilitation and compensation at a level comparable to the proportion of Maori in the population. That is appalling.  
The issue is in essence that Maori have greater need but have less access to treatment. I know this because many people who have come to my office—Maori people—have come for help because the staff at ACC have tended to treat them as malingerers who do not want to work and who do not have any rights to accident compensation. It is obvious from these stories and these statistics that our people are overrepresented in high-risk industries and under-represented in claims and entitlements from ACC.  
Given this history we have given priority to this Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill (No 2) in order to review the amendments proposed for work-related injuries the changes in weekly compensation eligibility and entitlement and the changes in entitlement and processes around vocational rehabilitation and independence. We are particularly pleased that the bill improves access to compensation for a number of currently disenfranchised groups—seasonal and casual workers and those in non-standard work; those mentally injured by trauma; those between work; and young people who are injured. The Maori Party has previously voted against bills that were not inclusive of the rights of these groups so it is obviously pleasing to see that these groups have been included from the outset.  
We are especially interested in the initiatives to provide cover for mental injury arising from traumatic events in the workplace. Our reading of the bill suggests that cover is extended to those suffering mental injury as opposed to temporary distress by exposure to a sudden traumatic event in the course of employment situations—for example witnessing a death.  
I know the impact of such events from personal experience. When I was working in a Government agency a member of the public held a staff member up against a wall and clutched the staff member’s throat in response to behaviour that the member of the public had clearly taken offence at. I imagine that the trauma for that worker was huge. I also remember only too vividly that at a hui I attended when I was working in Ruatoki one of the speakers attending the hui died. As I moved to give him CPR I realised that it was too late. The shock of that sudden death stayed with me for a very very long time.  
Sometimes when we talk about people having temporary distress it is unfair not to note that that distress can stay with them for a long time. When I read in this bill that this cover will help ensure there is appropriate treatment to facilitate rehabilitation I am absolutely convinced that experiences such as those I have mentioned are indeed encompassed within the scope of personal injury.  
I will be interested to learn at the select committee whether any of the submitters bring to our attention the possibility of racism being added as a work-related gradual process of injury because that was identified in Dr Peter Jansen’s report as well. Clearly racism has long-term effects including that of post-traumatic stress disorder.  
There are some very good features in this bill and I believe that weekly compensation for seasonal and casual workers will be calculated more fairly as a result of amendments included in the bill. For example compensation for meatworkers will be calculated more in line with their working periods rather than their non-working periods which I think is fair. Instead of having 3 months’ work averaged out over 52 weeks it will be averaged out over 12 weeks which in effect means that the 80 percent compensation will be of their real income. This change is intended to improve access for seasonal casual workers and others in non-standard work and it is something we would support.  
We would like to see more focus on occupational safety and health included in this bill. A 2004 National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee report on occupational injury and disease in New Zealand highlights the lack of information on Maori work-related mortality and morbidity. Despite the fact that awareness and monitoring of occupational safety and health issues for Maori are sorely lacking we know that particular issues flow from the facts of their employment. Maori and Pacific workers are more likely to be shift workers and as a consequence are more likely to be vulnerable to the range of work-related disorders associated with shift work—sleep disturbance peptic ulcers ischaemic heart disease obesity hypertension diabetes mellitus female reproductive disorders and disorders of the immune system as well as psychological and relationship disorders. A recent publication the  
New Zealand Blood Donors’ Health Study 
 reported that when occupation lifestyle factors and excessive sleepiness are controlled for there is an almost twofold increase in the risk of work-related injury for shift workers.  
The final issue I bring to the debate is the precarious nature of non - full-time non-permanent employment where Maori are also highly represented. Precarious employment is employment that is low quality and puts workers at risk of injury illness and/or poverty. Precarious workers are more exposed to physical work hazards and stress from insecurity. We will be looking carefully at the select committee report to see that the specific issues for shift workers and workers in precarious employment are fully canvassed in this bill.  
All workers have a right to expect that the workplaces they go to the work they do and the people they work with and for are not compromising their health and well-being. They also have a right to benefit from the social contract represented in the accident compensation scheme which began some 40 years ago.  
We will be supporting this bill in order to enable a full discussion to take place and to allow all of us in this House to benefit from the robust discussion about the impact of injuries upon the community. We will reserve our final decision until we are really well informed by the submissions made to the select committee. Kia ora.