Turia: Opening ACC could benefit iwi

Nick Smith says proposed levy rises will be greater if the bill isn't passed by February. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Maori Party will not rule out supporting moves to open accident compensation to competition, saying it could benefit Maori providers and have a flow-on effect to Maori workers.

The party yesterday agreed to support the Government's new ACC legislation for its first reading but would not commit to supporting it beyond that, saying it wanted to hear public submissions first.

National is still negotiating with the Act Party to ensure it can pass the legislation, which pushes out the date from which ACC must be fully funded from 2014 to 2019 and cuts some entitlements. Act Party co-leader Rodney Hide is pushing for National to commit to introducing competition into the Work Account of ACC as it had done in 1999.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia denied the decision to support it through to a select committee was to try to reduce any influence the Act Party could have. She has previously voiced concern that competition in the most profitable Work Account would push up ACC levies in the other accounts. However, yesterday she said the party was now reconsidering its position and weighing up whether it could benefit iwi providers.

"We had the same concerns back in the 1990s about opening up the primary healthcare to private providers and that actually turned out to be in the interests of Maori health providers. So we're not sure. We are still investigating."

The party's main concern was addressing a "bias" against Maori, whom she said already had consistently less access to ACC entitlements than others.

Labour leader Phil Goff called the bill a "Trojan horse for privatisation" and released a letter he sent to Mr Key last week in which he asks him not to use negotiations as an excuse to privatise the scheme or allow competition. Mr Goff also offered support for extending the date for full funding from 20014 to 2019 - but not for cuts to the cover of the accident insurance scheme. Prime Minister John Key rebuffed the offer and will not rule out bowing to Act's demands for competition. The Government would only go ahead "if it is in the interests of taxpayers, businesses, and ... workers."

He indicated National had already looked into it in some detail, saying any scheme would differ from that National introduced in 1999.

One of the problems then was the extra work for doctors who were confronted with a variety of different forms and accounts.

"We are not going to leave our medical practitioners having to fumble through some form of bureaucratic nightmare if we do open the account to some form of competition."

The issue also met with condemnation from the Employers and Manufacturers' Federation, which issued a statement opposing a repeat of the 1999 exercise, saying employers were wary. Its health and safety manager Paul Harvie said 1999 had turned into a bun fight between insurers offering artificially low premiums to try to shore up their market share.

While it still has to get support to get the bill into actual law, the Maori Party's step at least allows National to introduce the bill and begin the select committee process. ACC minister Nick Smith said it must be passed by February to avoid ACC having to make significantly higher levy rises than those it has proposed.