Accident Compensation – 1995 and Still Languishing

With the publication of the latest policy review of ACC, Accident Compensation 1995, the question of deregulating injury insurance in New Zealand has once again come to the fore. Action on ACC legislation, although openly ackno'vvledged by all commentators as a necessity, has been slow in coming due to disagreement about the basic premises of rights, entitlements and institutional arrangements and an uncertain balance of power in Parliament. The present article examines the debates around deregulation and efficiency, the principles of "no fault" and "no right to sue", and the failure of the current regulatory regime.