Sepuloni CarmelACCIDENT COMPENSATION (MATERNAL BIRTH INJURY AND OTHER MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for ACC): I present a legislative statement on the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I move That the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This is a very important day for the future of ACC. About 50 years ago the Accident Compensation Act 1972 was passed. This established ACC which has become an integral part of the social support system in Aotearoa New Zealand and has become part of the fabric of our country. Fifty years later however we see that women make fewer claims to ACC than men have fewer injuries covered by the accident compensation scheme than men and each woman's claim costs the scheme a third less than a man's on average in entitlements. We know that these inherent gender disparities in the accident compensation scheme are the result of amongst other things its focus on accident-related physical injuries which are more common among men and in male-dominated types of work. I think it's really important to note that the evidence that outlines the disparities that exist within the scheme for women and other population groups was not something that was accidentally come upon. It was information that I had requested because I wanted to understand as the Minister how ACC serves all of the population groups in New Zealand. And the reminder that this serves to all of us is how important it is to ask for that equity data how important it is to ask questions with regards to how well women are served and how well other population groups are served because it does help to inform very important decisions that need to be made. We also know that Aotearoa New Zealand looks very different from what it did 50 years ago. I'm very proud as the Minister to have introduced this bill and of the progress that the bill has made through the House. This bill is a first of its kind. It brings all maternal birth injuries under the cover of ACC. This change will ensure that approximately 28000 birthing parents each year will be able to access the support they need. Expanding ACC cover to maternal birth injuries will improve the support available to birthing parents who suffer childbirth injuries and in particular more timely access to surgeries and to pelvic physiotherapy. This delivers on the Government's 2020 election manifesto commitment to returning ACC to its original purpose of assisting all New Zealanders who have had an injury. I really want to recognise all those who submitted to the Education and Workforce Committee on this bill. I want to thank those people who very bravely came forward and shared their stories. I also want to acknowledge all of the medical organisations that brought their expertise to the committee. All of these contributions helped shape the excellent bill which was reported back. I must acknowledge the members of the select committee who diligently considered the large number of submissions on the bill whose hard work resulted in two very sensible changes to the bill which I wholeheartedly endorse. These changes ensure that the cover for maternal birth injuries is and will continue to be comprehensive. I do also want to acknowledge the Labour Party women's caucus. They were alongside me around the time that Radio New Zealand had shone a light on birth injuries and the inability for women to get cover for those birth injuries unless it was caused due to a treatment issue. It was a great example of us all being very passionate about a particular issue. Before I'd even made any progress with officials we had already discussed it as a women's caucus and they have followed the progress of this bill the whole way through and enthusiastically supported me as the Minister who has had the privilege of leading this work. So I acknowledge the women's caucus in the Labour Party. The bill's committee of the whole House debate was very robust. I want to again take this opportunity to reassure everyone that the bill is intended to cover all maternal birth injuries that can be caused by childbirth. The bill's approach to covering maternal birth injuries is the best approach in ensuring that birthing parents have the support that they need to recover as quickly as possible in what will already be a time of great change in their lives. As well as the expansion of cover to maternal birth injuries this bill also addresses some of the changes National made when last in office which unfairly disadvantaged tens of thousands of New Zealand workers. This bill provides more clarity on what is involved for gradual injury claims at work and more equitable cover for claimants. This includes bringing back the more claimant-friendly version of the test for work-related gradual injuries. The change will put the onus explicitly back on ACC to look into these claims and make it clearer to claimants such as firefighters what happens when they make a gradual process injury claim to ACC. We're also reducing the threshold for injury-related hearing loss cover from 6 percent to 5 percent hearing loss. This means that more claimants can receive the care they need. I recently introduced another change in this bill as part of my commitment to remove access barriers to ACC and improve fairness and equity within the scheme. ACC claimants who are unable to work as a result of their injuries and are on very low incomes are eligible for a top-up to a minimum weekly compensation rate which is linked to the minimum wage. Currently these people must wait until 1 July each year for any increases in the minimum wage to be reflected in their weekly income. In 2022 this meant these people missed out on about $500. This change will mean these people will receive any planned increases to the minimum rate earlier at the same time as the minimum wage increases.This bill marks a step towards improving the gender balance fairness and equity of the accident compensation scheme. People giving birth in Aotearoa can be confident that they will be better supported by ACC with the expansion of cover provided by this bill. The bill also provides more support to injured New Zealanders more clarity of what ACC covers and equitable cover for claimants. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to.