Absolutely Criminal Conspiracy

Absolutely Criminal Conspiracy NOVEMBER 2004
The Government, ACC, along with the Health and Labour Depts. are running scared. Sacred of What? The huge potential that ACC will have to pick up the tab for occupationally induced diseases (gradual process injury) in years to come.
Currently before parliament is the IPRC Amendment Bill No 3 ERMA and OSH, under the HSNOs Act, along with Health and Labour Dept. are NOT ALLOWED to make a public statement that so much as hints at a cause of environmental or occupational injury implicating negligence or a liability for ACC to pay and then recover. Already the Minister of ACC has covert and virtually unbridled power in instructing ACC under the terms of Section 271 of the existing Act. In fact the Minister is required to draw up an annual contract with ACC. This contract is signed before being tabled in Parliament.
Under the existing contract, the Minister currently requires that ACC exit's 1500 “pieces of stock” (i.e. people!) per year. “Unethical and unlawful tactics are condoned to achieve this”. In fact cases which should be virtually routinely accepted are still being forced to review and court by dishonest, ignorant and greedy ACC employees and medical lackeys. One of the purposes of the amendment is to remove the requirement for ACC to have copies of the proposed regulations available to the public during the consultation process! Far from its stated intention of dealing with medical misadventure, this Bill is primarily (under "secondary issues") an attempt to deny both cover and entitlements to rehabilitation for accident victims and those who suffer environmentally induced personal injury by negligence. One proposed amendment to the Medical Misadventure portion of the Act removes the basic right to appeal an ACC decision in court. This is a denial of New Zealanders’ basic rights and a direct violation of the Human Rights Act 1990. Another proposed amendment clarifies that if the date on which the person's personal injury first resulted in the person's incapacity was before 1 April 2002 that person would NOT be eligible for compensation, irrespective of when a correct diagnosis was made. The end result of these amendments will be a corrupt and dishonest insurance company operating completely outside of public scrutiny dictating to the Minister the terms and conditions it is prepared to operate under. Everyday people from everyday jobs who have been or are still being exposed to hazardous substances will be denied any entitlement to ACC. They will also be denied any remedy in Law with which to hold accountable the companies involved.

A simple solution to this problem for ACC & the Government would be to levy the Chemical & petrochemical companies to cover the costs & future costs of health problems and environmental cleanups, just as ACC now levy employers, employees & motor vehicle users based upon ACC's perceived user pays system! Local Government bodies would welcome an injection of funds from such a source. It would enable them to help already affected land owners & residents of the "newly" identified toxic sites. Its a pity that the residents and landowners of previously poisoned areas will soon be unable to claim for any developing or ongoing health problems related to their employment or their work/home environment. Instead the Government seems to be hell bent on denying any problems exist, whilst secretly legislating to protect the chemical cartels, corrupt companies & their employees. The Government has obviously also started to persecute community watchdogs, support groups and those individuals who wont accept the lies, disinformation and propaganda espoused as truth by the powers that be. M Davis.