Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1681. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement that “ACC is one of many decisions that add up to whether there is a surplus or not a surplus”; if so was the decision to reject officials’ advice and keep ACC levies $178 million higher than they need to be a decision made to achieve a surplus?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Yes and no.Grant Robertson: In reference to the last part of that answer why did the then Minister for ACC Judith Collins say to Cabinet that “reductions to ACC levies impact on the Government’s fiscal strategy to balance the books.” if the Government’s long-promised surplus was not the reason that levies have been kept higher than they need to be?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Because in making that decision the Government takes into account a range of considerations just in the same way it has to weigh up for instance the impact on the deficit of providing an increase in operational funding for our schools or more money for our hospitals. If you pass the money to the hospital you have a bigger deficit and it makes it harder to get to surplus and ACC is no different. Generally the Government has taken a more conservative view than officials about increases and decreases in the levy.Jami-Lee Ross: What benefits will New Zealanders receive in the next few months as a result of this Government’s improved management of ACC?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The main benefit they will have is the security of knowing that the ACC scheme has now been stabilised after the mess it was left in by the previous Labour Government with multibillion dollar losses. As we announced in Budget 2014 ACC’s improving performance has meant that annual levies for households and businesses have fallen by close to $1 billion per annum since 2011-12 and in addition we have indicated further levy reductions of $480 million in 2015-16. By then we will have reduced ACC levies by almost $1.5 billion per annum—actually bigger than a small tax cut.Grant Robertson: Why did the then Minister for ACC Judith Collins defend the inflated ACC levies by saying “because we need to get to surplus” and “we believe the surplus is something that is very important” if the reason for making New Zealand workers pay $60 more than they need to and businesses $1500 more than they need to is simply a way of trying to reach his long-promised surplus?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Of course the decisions about the ACC levies have an impact on the surplus—and the member seems surprised that that has been referred to—in the same was as increases in the health budget have an impact on the surplus. Part of the job of any Government—as it was for the previous Labour Government—is to make the decisions about where you can make progress. In the case of ACC this is a $1.5 billion in levy reductions at the same time as achieve surpluses just as in the same way we try to manage the health system with relatively small increases because we want better health services and we want a surplus—and at the moment we are getting both.Grant Robertson: When he said that the National Government would post “a meaningful surplus” does he think New Zealanders would expect that to be the result of competently managing and growing the economy rather than ripping off workers and businesses with hiked-up ACC levies?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It is not the right day for the Labour Party to be talking about ripping off the workers. I mean at least the workers pay some levy whereas Andrew Little did not pay any of the bill.David Seymour: Does the Minister find it ironic to face accusations of divergent objectives and political meddling in ACC when it was those members who removed competition renationalised it and created the whole situation in the first place 15 years ago?Mr SPEAKER: In so far as there is ministerial responsibility—[Interruption] Order!Hon BILL ENGLISH: What the Government is responsible for is not the past policies of the Labour Government but for fixing up the tragic consequences of those policies which were an unstable ACC system in 2008 losing billions of dollars. It is now performing so well that we are on track to cut levies by $1.5 billion and for example all those older people who have a car which they register every year will find that the cost of registering a car drops by $130 from 1 April this year.Grant Robertson: Does he not think that reaching a surplus in May by unnecessarily hiking ACC levies which will see businesses paying $1500 a year more than they need to actually breaks his promise to deliver a meaningful surplus given that it is nothing more than a desperate attempt to rescue the Government from yet another dismal deficit?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No I do not agree with any of that. Businesses and I think a lot of New Zealanders with an interest in ACC are pleased that they have got a stable sustainable scheme that is rehabilitating more people more quickly than ever and as a result of good stewardship by the ACC board and the respective Ministers ACC can now drop levies to the point where car registration costs will drop by $130 a year.