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This page last updated Feb 1 2005
2004-1230 - The Press - Rise
in ACC abuse payouts - One-off compensation for 800
by Anna Claridge - The number of lump-sum payouts by the Accident Compensation
Corporation (ACC) quadrupled in the past year, with more than 800 people
given one-off compensation payments for injury or abuse. Nearly 50 people
were given more than $100,000. Critics say the huge increase in lump-sum
payments can be put down to a Government decision in April 2002 allowing
sexual-abuse victims to receive one-off payments of up to $100,000.
2004-1224 - One News -
Funding for abuse foundation
A counselling service in Auckland for victims of sexual abuse which has been
given new funding from Accident Compensation Corporation, says it will still
need to keep fundraising. The Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation had
warned that it may have to close earlier this year, if it did not get more
money. The ACC has just signed a new year-long contract with the service
worth $200,000
2004-1223 - NZ
Government - Government supports HELP sexual abuse service
ACC Minister Ruth Dyson today welcomed a $200,000 contract between ACC and
the Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation for a one-year ‘pilot’ approach to
services targeting sexual abuse. ACC will work with the foundation to support
crisis counselling and telephone support. Outcomes will be closely monitored.
2004-1020 - NZ Herald - ACC limits
on abuse counselling attacked
by Angela Gregory - Sexually abused women are taking longer to recover from
their ordeal because of the high cost of counselling and restricted access to
therapy subsidised by Accident Compensation Corporation, research has found.
Auckland University research fellow Dr Kim McGregor's survey of nearly 200
sexually abused women found that many could not find adequate counselling
services
2004-0731 - Otago Daily Times -
Massey study on sexual abuse
NZPA - Wellington: Massey University is about to start a 20-month study on
how to best help people recover from mental hurt following sexual abuse. The
Accident Compensation Corporation said it had commissioned psychologists from
Massey's school of psychology in Palmerston North to review international
studies on the subject to develop a best practice for New Zealand.
2004-0716 - Waikato Times -
Study cash for sex abuse
by Sid Pickering - Hamilton researchers have been awarded more than $120,000
from the Accident Compensation Corporation as part of a project to find the
best way to diagnose and help people who suffer mental illness as a result of
sexual abuse. Hamilton's Psychology Centre and Massey University are to share
a $600,000 ACC contract for the research
2004-0710 - Otago Daily Times - ACC.htm
by Dr Kevin Shannon - …..The propensity for large-scale abuse was so evident
that the ACC legislation should never have been
enacted. Until recently, a rapist who "slipped a disc" committing
the offence could claim on ACC. Why has this come about? At times it appeared
that all the misguided "do gooders" and social engineers from
around the world had settled in New Zealand. ACC should be
terminated
2004-0710 - Dominion Post -
The price of sexual healing
by Sarah Boyd - As ACC begins to pay lump sum compensation again, Sarah Boyd
examines its handling of sexual abuse claims. ……… ACT MP Heather Roy
maintains that backdated payments are effectively lump sums, after getting
information from ACC showing that the highest backdated payment since 2000
was $153,077. She's also concerned at figures showing that two claimants were
receiving $1418 a week compensation, and 10 were on more than $60,500 a year.
Most sexual abuse victims, though, use ACC just to pay for counselling. The
result is that 66 per cent of claimants are out of the system within a year
and another 15 per cent within two years.
2004-0706 - The Press - ACC
swindler gets three years jail
By Dean Calcott - A mother of nine who ruthlessly exploited her stepchildren
to swindle the accident compensation system has been sentenced to almost
three years jail.
2004-0620 - Sunday Star Times -
Reality check needed for sex abuse comp
by Frank Haden - The misguided section of the ACC legislation
that extended compensation cover to mental or nervous injury resulting from a
sex crime must be amended. Ballooning figures of compensation paid to alleged
sex abuse victims, uncovered by Act MP Heather Roy in questions to ACC
Minister Ruth Dyson, make overhaul a matter of urgency. The legislation must
be rejigged to define a sex crime as an act proved by a conviction or
otherwise established. Too often a sex crime is something that exists only in
a depressed person's false memory.
2004-0617 - Otago Daily Times - ACC
Letter to the Editor by Dr Iliya Englin - As an Australian, I could only
laugh at the criticism of ACC by American lawyer Andrew Straw (ODT, 10.6.04).
Australia has tried the US system of suing
anyone who doesn't wish you a nice day. As a result, lawyers rent more space
in Sydney CBD than retailers
2004-0617 - Otago Daily Times -
Liars and bludgers taking advantage of ACC
Letter to the Editor by Dr K P Shannon -
There are roughly 190 countries in the world. Only one, New Zealand,
is stupid enough to have an ACC scheme or anything similar. Over the past 30
years there has been a steady stream of claimants, some genuine but many
liars and bludgers. …..The back "injury" is largely a male
phenomenon. So females can also get a slice of the cake we have the
"sexual abuse" racket
2004-0614 - NZ Herald - ACC
and sex abuse
Letter to the Editor by Gordon Waugh - When introducing the current
ACC legislation, Dr Cullen (then Minister of ACC) assured me that sexual
abuse claimants were entitled to counselling and, where the conditions are
met, a once-only lump-sum payment of between $2,500 and $100,000. That
claimants can now obtain weekly compensation based on 80 percent of their
assessed earnings is indefensible………It is irresponsible of the present ACC Minister, Ruth
Dyson, to continue to allow ACC to accept claims without proof of abuse and
consequential permanent mental injury, and a conviction
2004-0612 - Dominion Post -
Treatment by ACC is fair
by D Bealing - How disappointing that Don Rennie (ACC matters, May
22-23) stooped to a lurid, pessimistic, gloomy style, at best exaggerated, at
worst paranoid (as was said of Churchill). Rennie's invective against ACC is
to his discredit. He is well aware of and, during his career, probably
contributed toward the largely positive outcomes achieved by ACC
2004-0611 - NZ Herald - Two sexual
abuse victims getting $73,000 a year from ACC
Some sexual abuse claimants are getting more than $1400 a week in ongoing
compensation from ACC, or a gross annual income of $73,000. Two claimants
receive compensation of $1418 each week, and 10 are on more than $60,500 a
year. …….ACC used accredited health providers to determine whether a claimant
had suffered a mental injury arising from sexual abuse, he said. Mrs Roy said
it was hard to believe that somebody suffering severe mental injury resulting
from sexual abuse could have held down a high-paying job.
2004-0611 - Stuff - Two ACC sexual abuse
claimants on $73,000 a year
NZPA - "The real crux of the matter is people no
longer have to prove that they were sexually abused." ACC annual payouts
to sex abuse claimants have soared by more than $9 million in the past three
years. ACC paid out $27,231,652 to
claimants in the year ending last October, compared with $17,951,300 for the
same period in 2001.
2004-0611 - Otago Daily Times - ACC
claimants paid $73,000 pa Payouts for sexual abuse soar
by Kevin Norquay of NZPA - Some sexual abuse claimants are getting up
to $1418 a week in compensation from ACC, or a gross annual income of
$73,000. Two claimants receive compensation of $1418 each week, official
figures show, while 10 ACC sexual abuse claimants are on more than $60,500 a
year . One sexual abuse claimant had a payment of $153,077 in backdated
compensation approved by ACC, answers to written parliamentary questions by
Act New Zealand MP Heather Roy showed.
2004-0401 - Waikato Times - Woman
wanted compo: witness
by Catherine Hutton - A Ngaruawahia woman who has accused another woman of
sexually violating her talked about getting $10,000 compensation from ACC for
the alleged assault, a witness told the Hamilton District Court yesterday.
2004-0316 - Green Party -
Victims' Service Needs Immediate Govt Help
Ms Bradford is calling on Ruth Dyson, the Minister of Women's Affairs and ACC
and Associate Minister of Health and Child Youth & Family, to provide
HELP with a 'whole of government' response. "Ms Dyson and her government
should immediately save HELP from closure and then sit down with them to
discuss a sustainable, simple and ongoing funding solution.
2004-0224 - Waikato Times - ACC
fraud detection costly
ACC is spending more on catching fraudsters. Figures released to the Waikato
Times show ACC spent $271,023 on prosecuting fraudsters in 2002, but last
year that jumped to $507,657.
2004-0220 - NZ Parliament -
Questions For Written Answer
Dr Muriel Newman to the Minister for ACC - Seven questions relating to the
Sensitive Claims section of ACC
2004-0216 - The Press -
Counselling
Letter to the Editor by Phillip Robinson - David Dawe asks when the cult of
counselling began. During the 1980s ACC decided to pay lump sum compensation
to people claiming sexual abuse. The Privacy Act means no rigorous proof or
criminal prosecution is required, the psychoanalysis of a counsellor being
deemed sufficient to establish entitlement.
2004-0205 - Otago Daily Times - ACC
by Peter Sara and Michael Gibson - Dr Muriel Newman's scaremongering about
ACC payments to victims of sexual offences (ODT, 27.1.04) is inaccurate and
misleading
2004-0202 - Dominion Post -
Alien claims will be next
Letter to the Editor by John Welch - Some years ago I coined
the term "Welch's Law" (after Parkinson), where claims expand to
take up the amount of compensation available.
Nowhere is this better illustrated than the current rort where
claimants can receive ACC compensation for sexual abuse but do not have to
name the perpetrator or press criminal charges.
2004-0127 - Otago Daily
Times - ACC payments for sex abuse soar to $27million
NZPA - ACC annual payouts to sex-abuse claimants have soared by more than
than $9 million in the past three years. Figures released to The Press under
the Official Information Act show ACC paid out $27,231,652 to claimants in
the year ending last October, compared with $17,951,300 for the corresponding
period in 2001.
2004-0126 - The Press -
Sexual abuse payouts up $9m
by Sean Scanlon - ACC annual payouts to sex abuse claimants have soared by
more than than $9 million in the past three years. Figures released to The
Press under the Official Information Act show ACC paid out $27,231,652 to
claimants in the year ending last October, compared with $17,951,300 for the
same period in 2001. Critics say the
increase shows the rules for "sensitive claims" are not
working. In April 2002 the Government
introduced lump sum payments of up to $100,000 for sex abuse claims,
prompting predictions from Opposition MPs that costs would rise.
2004-0126 - NZ Herald -
Sexual abuse payments skyrocket
NZPA - refer report from "The Press"
2004-0123 - The Press -
Catching claim cheats saves ACC $13m
by Sean Scanlon - More than 100 people were convicted of defrauding the ACC
of more than $1.1 million in the past financial year. Official figures show
the ACC secured convictions in 101 of the 109 claimant fraud cases it took to
court.
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