Labour reinforces ACC plan

ONE NEWS: Labour says it is committed to keeping ACC in public ownership.

Helen Clark and MP Maryan Street released the party's policy in Motueka on Tuesday afternoon saying if elected, accident compensation will not be opened up to competition from insurance companies.

"Our ACC scheme exists as a public service with the sole focus on supporting people who have been injured. That is very different from the mandate of private insurers, who exist primarily to be profitable," Clark says.

The policy is in contrast to National's ACC policy, which was released in July.

National will allow insurers to compete with the Accident Compensation Corporation for the multi-million dollar business of compensating injured workers.

ACC receives a claim every 17 seconds for accidents at home, work, while driving or playing sport, paying out $2.4 billion last year in compensation and rehabilitation.

Under National, all employers will be able to get coverage from private insurers instead of ACC, essentially giving insurance companies access to an estimated $640 million a year in premium income.

"We're not afraid of a little competition and ACC shouldn't be either," John Key said when releasing the policy.

But releasing the Labour policy on Tuesday Maryan Street says research from PricewaterhouseCoopers found ACC offers broader coverage, faster return to work rates, lower costs and fewer legal disputes than alternative schemes around the world.

"The report, completed earlier this year, also found that employer levies in Australia were 250% higher than in New Zealand," she says.

Labour also says planned changes to the ACC scheme will see car registration costs drop by by the middle of next year.

The party will introduce an immediate law change to push the full funding of residual claim accounts back from the planned 2014 deadline to 2019. They say it has become increasingly clear the 2014 date will place too high a burden on the public.

The result will mean lower payments on some ACC levies, including a drop by an average $80 for the cost of registering a vehicle.