Labour ups pressure on ACC chairman

A news report from 3 News/Radio Live

Labour is continuing to heap pressure over the National-led Government's handling of ACC, which has been rocked by a recent series of alleged privacy breaches.
ACC is being accused of not putting proper privacy safeguards in place, as fresh breaches continue to emerge.
Former minister Nick Smith last week resigned his cabinet portfolios after revelations he wrote a supporting reference for a friend, Bronwyn Pullar, who was battling for compensation, despite already receiving an income protection insurance payout of over $1 million.
Labour's ACC spokesman Andrew Little says John Judge's future as ACC chairman should be reconsidered if public discontent continues. "I think there's enough around now to show that ACC's decision-making on a growing number of claims has not been good, and if that is a consequence of the cost-cutting and scrimping mentality that accompanied John Judge's arrival, then it is necessary to change that."
Mr Little says the Government has to act to restore public faith in ACC. "They are there to make sure that people who have injuries as the result of an accident are looked after," says Mr Little. "If he can't do that, they will need to get somebody else in who will, and who will train up the leadership and the management of ACC to do the job that people expect of it."
More than 6000 clients had their details sent to Ms Pullar. Since then, Dr Smith has quit all his portfolios and fresh breaches have emerged.
Don Rennie, convenor of the Law Society's ACC Committee, has been involved with the agency since it was started in the 1970s. He says he saw the problem coming, but despite personally approaching the Privacy Commissioner to try to deal with it, breaches remain an on-going problem.
"It's been an issue for at least 10 years, but the ACC is no bigger than the police or the health service, and a lot of the other organisations which collect personal information but seem to have ways and means of dealing with it so it doesn't get into the wrong hands. "
Mr Rennie says worried ACC clients should speak to the Privacy Commission or start looking at legal options.
Privacy commissioner Marie Shroff says it pays for people to be vigilant about their rights. "We should never go off watch," says Ms Shroff. "We should always be trying to make sure that ACC is held to account. If something bad happens you definitely have the right to complain to that agency, and if you don't get satisfaction, you can complain to me, the privacy commissioner."

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