White Island and ACC

[SueDonim]

All those claimants who went to ACC were paid out entitlements under the Act. ACC was promoted as the way to remove the need to litigate for damages or reparations, and yet over recent years we have increasingly seen the courts award payments to those impacted by accidents.

Those awards are often substantially higher than the equivalent ACC payment, and in addition to it.


Is ACC past its use by date?

I think WorkSafe is the issue. Another entity that seems like a good thing until you get under the cover of how it operates. It seems to be able to charge whatever it wants as fines. I'm not sure what has gone on with reparations though. I would have expected ACC to still have the monopoly there since it is supposedly enshrined in the legislation. There was also footage on TV with the judge saying something about moral obligations. Moral obligations are important, but his job is to apply the law, not morality. I have also been surprised at the reporting of what appeared to be negotiation statements from the defendants who were found guilty - eg stating how much they could/would pay. Maybe that has always gone on and we just haven't had it reported in this way before. There's a lot of this that seems quite alarming. I suspect there might be some appeals coming up. Which means the victims and their families won't have closure yet.