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Matt Doocey: ACC Minister on the agency's $7.2 billion deficit · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: ACC's announced to seven point two billion dollar deficit for
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the year to journe This just after a year after
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: reporting a surplus of nine hundred and eleven million, and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: it's got everyone on the text machine saying what how
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: does that happen? It comes as the ACC is looking
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to raise levies for twenty twenty five to twenty twenty eight.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: This is to help pay for increasing costs. Matt Doucy
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is the ACC minister. He's with me this morning. Minister Mordenna,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Good morning Morlene.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: To mother a Ryan, good to have you.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: On the show. Tell me, first of all, how bad
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: is this on a scale of one to ten? How
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: worried are you?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I think it's hugely concerning. I think ACC
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: quite frankly needs to lift its game, but I think
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: we do need to take a step back. I mean
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: ACC celebrated its fiftieth birthday recently. It's a big institution
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: in New Zealand. In the last financial year it's settled
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: about seven billion dollars worth of claims, four billion for
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: treatment costs, about three billion for a weekly compensation. We're
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: not talking about any financial sustainability risks in the short
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: to medium term. It's more about when you look at
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: what's called the OCL the outstanding claims liability for long
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: term and what we've seen through some factors like inflation,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: treatment costs, population growth, we've seen significant rise in the
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: outstanding claims liability. But on saying that, there's two areas Ryan,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: One is factors that are inside accs controls stuff that's outside,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: like sometimes inflation and treatment costs. But I think they've
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: really got to focus on their rehabilitation rates. We've seen
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: them continue to decline and that's a big area that
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I think that they can focus on to improve their position.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the population growth. I mean, if the population
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: is growing, there should be more people paying into the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: system too, right, So can't we cancel that one out.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Potentially? But when you look at sometimes the exponential factor
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: in the claims, it's what they've actually seen this year,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: specifically the people claiming. They have seen more people claiming.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: But like I say, there is levers inside their control
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: injury prevention. Does that rehabilitation rates.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: When more people are is that over and above population growth?
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Are we having more accidents when?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Why? Yeah? I think quite crudely, when you look at
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: those statistics, you could draw that conclusion. I don't have
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the details on why that is, but like I say,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: there's an ability for ACC to focus on the levers
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: that they have in their control. Our rehabilitation rates have
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: been declining over a number of years, so I've made
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: it very clear that there is to be the primary focus.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: But also want to touch on another area, which is
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: about a third of that significant increase, And what that
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: is is court rulings that have changed some of the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: entitlements and what we call boundary issues of their two generals.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Is it too generals?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Well, what the court has ruled in one area has
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: significantly increased the OCL by three point six billion dollars alone.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: So those are areas that we need to look at all, right.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Well, very quickly, we literally have ten seconds left. Will
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: this mean levees will have to go up substantially? What
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: will it mean for us they're actually paying into it
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: almillst things be cut.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: I won't get ahead of cabinet decisions, but what I
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: would say is that levees are only one lever, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I don't expect levees to be used by default. I
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: expect ACC to lift their game around rehabilitation rates because
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: they should be ensuring that they are utilizing the income
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: they're getting from New Zealanders at the moment.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Fairly, Matt, dc ACC minister, thanks so much for your time.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:54
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• 3:57
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