ACC the Tail

I submitted the following to the ODT on 7/9 in reply to a letter in which VE Lamb welcomed the move to privatise ACC, supposing that it would benefit small business who were currently paying for the tail.

Your correspondent V E Lamb (5/9) raises the issue of what is commonly called 'the tail' in the ACC scheme. During the nineties levies were set too low and the scheme ran at a loss. Now this deficit is being made up in part by employer contributions. The tail is one of the ways that we are still paying for the follies of the last National government when they privatised ACC. The tail has to be paid for one way or another. V E Lamb seems to think that privatisation under National is the way ahead. All that will do is shift the cost of the tail to the tax payer (say good bye to your tax cuts) and shift $200 million dollars off shore to benefit Australian insurance companies. Under the current system employers pay their share. Workplace accident insurance is a reasonable cost that is passed on to the consumer anyway. A temporary reduction in ACC fees is possible under a National scheme but at the cost of reduced worker entitlements, more time off work to recover from accidents and less safe work places.