Child sex abuse hysteria and the Ellis case
	Focus on People - Hall of Fame
	The wisdom of Gordon Waugh - Index
	Gordon Waugh January 17 2005 ACC Services Letter sent to the Editor, Dominion Post (Unpublished) by Gordon Waugh, Auckland ACC has lost whatever marbles it began with. While it literally chucks taxpayer funds at sexual abuse claimants, it proposes to reduce costs by cutting the number of helicopters it uses in rural areas. Those machines are vital in saving lives of accident victims, and also provide emergency capacity when disaster strikes. With little or no justification, ACC spent $27 million last year on sex abuse claimants. Some claimants get $60,000 annually. Others get huge lump sums. ACC gave the HELP Foundation a cool $200,000, conveniently calling it funding for a "pilot study". ACC already has an apparently perfect method for diagnosing the believed-in mental injury arising from sexual abuse, but incredibly, let a $600,000 contract to study the best way to diagnose it. Illogically, their diagnostic method does not require proof of alleged abuse, but magically relies on "clinical medical evidence". We are expected to believe their claim that it is much like an X-ray might indicate internal damage to organs or bones! On this naive basis, ACC wastes increasingly more millions. A dash of common sense would avoid cutting vital helicopter services.