O'Connor Simon: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Simon: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18559. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SIMON O’CONNOR (National—Tāmaki):I am very pleased to be here to speak on ACC in this debate. It is disappointing to have heard Iain Lees-Galloway the last speaker being so angry and frustrated in some ways that the National Government has actually put the ACC books in order and is competently able to actually start returning levies—[Interruption] You see those members are yelling and screaming. They do not like it you see because we know exactly the Labour record on ACC. Like a number of things that we picked up when we came into Government it was in bad shape and in disorder. We know that with the claim costs. I have just got a note here and I was noticing that the cost of claims increased by about 57 percent in 4 years under Labour. It has an inability to actually run ACC properly and appropriately. It is a sort of cash cow approach and it has actually taken the National Government to take the bull by the horns tidy things up fix things up and not only return the books to such a state that we are able to reduce levies in order to return money to Kiwis but to actually line up and put a focus not only on the care that is required through ACC but also on prevention and to have those two line up. So I think we can be very proud of what ACC is doing.I know that over recent weeks actually in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee we had people from the sensitive claims unit of ACC come in and give us a briefing. It was a really interesting insight into the work that they do. It is really important work. As a constituent MP I often get people coming in on ACC issues. I think it is important to acknowledge that it is a fraught area and more often than not it actually causes difficulty for people. I suppose it is one of the roles as a member of Parliament to try to advocate on those issues. So nothing is perfect by any means but ACC is actually in good shape and in good form.We know that in the most recent Budget we have indicated another total of $480 million worth of levy cuts for Kiwis this year and into next year—really important—and a lot of that is going to actually focus on the motor vehicle account and the levies there on motor vehicles. In fact from next year Kiwis may well find that their registration costs are down by about $130. Why? Once again we have focused on allowing ACC to do its core job and to do it well and therefore to return money to Kiwis where it is due. Unfortunately all we have heard from the Opposition is a lot of angry vitriol that this might be done at all. So that is really important there. The levy cuts though that have been indicated in the Budget are sitting on top of a whole series of levy cuts so far. As of 1 April this year New Zealanders started saving about $387 million in ACC levies over the last year itself. So that has made New Zealand households about $180 better off and actually large employers could have saved up to $6000 a year as well in terms of levies. So when we look at what the Government does it is a broad approach and ACC has been part of that.But a big chunk too is not simply putting the accounts in order. It is not simply trying to provide the best service to Kiwis but also focusing on that preventative side. We know that ACC spends a lot of money in this area because of the old adage that prevention is better than cure and there has been a major reboot in the injury prevention activities of ACC. In fact we have seen a doubling of the investment in this space. We have also seen I think it is important to mention particularly in the light of the report released by Sir Owen Glenn yesterday that a big focus of ACC—and driven by this Government—is on preventing sexual and family violence. There is a lot more work working within the educative space to try to put these messages out. As I said at the start we had the sensitive claims unit come in and talk us through the work that it does. We are also conscious of work that is happening within the integrated services for sensitive claims. This work should go live in November this year. There is really important work in that space.In closing I think one good thing to note in particular around this is the level of care that ACC already provides for people who are seeking assistance because of sexual abuse domestic violence and so forth. They can get 16 hours of immediate support from ACC. A claim has to be lodged but they do not have to wait for the confirmation of that claim to get help. It is just a small example of the activities and the changes that are occurring in this space. So returning to where I was at the start I think we on this side can be rightly proud of the focus of ACC and the work that it is doing and proud that we are returning money to New Zealanders and that they are not having to pay more on their levies than they need to. Thank you.Report noted.