Child sex abuse hysteria and the Ellis case
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	The wisdom of Gordon Waugh - Index
	NZ Herald June 14 2004 ACC and sex abuse Letter by Gordon Waugh, Whenuapai ACC payments for alleged sexual abuse are an unjustifiable and expensive swindle, costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in recent years. 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. Incredibly, claimants are not required to provide proof of alleged abuse. Counsellors uncritically believe that client narratives are historically and factually correct. ACC believes the myth that counsellors can determine whether sexual crimes were committed, without external investigation or the involvement of the police and the Courts. On this bizarre basis, ACC has received about 100,000 claims. Certification that the claimant genuinely suffered permanent mental impairment is required. But, illogically, ACC admits that no causal link between sexual abuse and any specific psychiatric, psychological or behavioural condition has been scientifically shown to exist. 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.