Street Maryan: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Street Maryan: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3337. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 In 2008 when Nick Smith took over the portfolio there were two difficulties with ACC. One was that the return on its investments was dropping. And why was that? There was a global financial crisis: a global financial crisis in which every investment company and investment account around the world began to notice a falling away in the interest and the returns on their investment. So that was one problem. There was another difficulty and it was with the non-earners account. There was some underfunding in the non-earners account. ACC has six accounts: five were fine and are funded by levies. The one that is not funded by levies is funded by appropriation. There was some underfunding because of the increased costs of medical treatment in large measure. There were two difficulties and two challenges—one that needed to be waited out and the other one that needed to be addressed by an incoming Government. 
But what did we have? We had Nick Smith come in go round in tiny circles and create a panic. He created a panic around an institution that had existed since the 1970s and was brought in by a National Government as Michael Woodhouse said because it saw the purpose and usefulness of it as well. But this Government has now reduced this ACC institution to chaos and destruction. It has wrought more chaos and visited more destruction on this organisation than any other public sector agency that I can think of. 
When we have a look at the report of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee we notice that in the period from 2007-08—I was Minister for ACC over that time—there were 5000 decisions going to review but by 2010-11 there were over 9000. The increase in the decisions overturned at review went from 900 when I was the Minister to 2288 during the time Nick Smith was the Minister. Let me give you one other significant factor and it goes to the issue of morale. The select committee reported on staff issues. It said proudly that ACC had said that it had met the target of exceeding the New Zealand State sector 50th percentile and had improved from 2009-10 to 2010-11. I will bet my bottom dollar that by the time the 2011-12 review comes round it will have plummeted. 
But maybe there is some remedy that is in the report because if we go on to the very next sentence it says: “We noted that the biggest collective employment agreement covering ACC staff had expired 3 years ago and remains unsettled.” Perhaps ACC could get some performance from its staff if it treated them well to begin with and it concluded their collective agreement instead of cooking up ideas that provide the worst of incentives by offering bonuses if you shoot as many people as possible off the long-term caseload. If you get those people off and you get a bonus for it that has got to be the most pernicious the most evil and the most destructive way of addressing rehabilitation that I have ever heard. It creates the wrong kinds of incentives for staff. 
Sign that collective agreement. Get the staff morale back on board. People want to work in an organisation that they know works well for people. At the moment they are leaving in droves from ACC starting at the top. They are leaving in droves. Nick Smith’s plan may well have been to turn the corporation into chaos. That may well have been his plan because it happens a lot with portfolios that Nick Smith takes over. They are reduced to chaos in short order and he usually gets bumped off and changed so that it can be repaired by somebody else. This one is now in Judith Collins’ lap to repair. She needs to address these issues. If she wants a culture change try settling the collective agreement in that workplace. Try stopping putting in perverse incentives that are going to make people unwell and will not assist in rehabilitation.