Lees-Galloway IainACCIDENT COMPENSATION AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Minister for ACC): I move That the Accident Compensation Amendment Bill be now read a third time. New Zealand's no-fault accident compensation scheme has been a source of national pride and this Government is committed to ensuring that the accident compensation scheme remains fair transparent and accessible for all claimants. Overwhelmingly people who are injured receive an excellent service from ACC in terms of their treatment and their rehabilitation. This bill makes a series of changes to boundaries rather than the core of the scheme in order to maintain and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory systems into the future. There are four main components of the bill which I will now cover. The bill amends the interface between weekly compensation and superannuation in several areas to improve fairness. The first of these provides for fairer transitions for those who are injured close to retirement age. These changes mean that people will be able to receive up to two years of weekly compensation and superannuation before transitioning on to superannuation. This will provide a fairer more consistent relationship between weekly compensation and superannuation to provide for fairer transitions for those people who are injured near the end of their working life. A further amendment will mean that a client's entitlement to weekly compensation as a surviving spouse or partner will no longer be affected by whether they are also receiving weekly compensation. Most surviving spouses or partners including those of superannuation qualification age or older will be entitled to a maximum of five years of weekly compensation based on their deceased spouses' or partners' earnings at the time of the fatal injury. I am pleased to be introducing this important amendment which ensures consistency and fairness between the entitlements received by surviving spouses regardless of age. The second component that this bill addresses is a gap in ACC coverage for families of employees who are posted overseas in the course of their employment. I believe there is a vital change to make as we do not want to stop people from representing New Zealand's interests abroad because of concern about the medical coverage of their families. Thirdly the bill disestablishes the historic Accident Compensation Appeal Authority which dealt with appeals under the repealed 1972 and 1982 Acts. Given the low number of appeals to the authority it is no longer cost effective to maintain it. All new appeals under the repealed Acts will be heard by the District Court which will ensure that claimants' rights are maintained. The bill also contains some minor and technical amendments that will increase ACC's operational efficiency and improve processes for the biennial levy rounds. I thank members of the Education and Workforce Committee and its chair Parmjeet Parmar for their work and consideration of the bill. This also extends to those who made submissions on the bill and those who helped to facilitate its progress. I'd also like to note the work of the Hon Michael Woodhouse as the previous Minister for ACC. Many of the policy proposals in this bill were developed and worked on during his time as Minister. They provided a clear focus and direction in which to move forward with these important regulatory maintenance changes. It is vital that we take this opportunity to work together in order to maintain and improve the ACC system. In closing this Government is proud to work towards creating more equitable outcomes within the accident compensation scheme framework. It is a vital component in our social contract and we look forward to improving outcomes for New Zealanders into the future. I commend this bill to the House.