The Swamp Report: Newstalk ZB

Showing posts with label Newstalk ZB. Show all posts

08 November 2013

Free counselling offered in light of 'Roast Busters' allegations

A report from Newstalk ZB by Jade Cooper

ACC's offering free counselling services for victims of sexual abuse.

In light of the recent 'Roast Busters' allegations, ACC wants people to know they can get help even if they don't want to go to the police.

ACC Strategy Manager for Sexual Violence Emma Powell says ACC can provide 16 sessions of counselling for anyone who lodges a sensitive claim.

ACC's sensitive claims unit can be contacted directly, and in complete confidence on 0800 735 566.

© 2013 The Radio Network

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbnat/179032981-free-counselling-offered-in-light-of--roast-busters--allegations

01 October 2012

ACC's compensation a 'slap in the face'

A report from Newstalk ZB by Kaye Albyt

A woman who's suing ACC on behalf of her daughter who was sexually abused, says the offer of compensation is a slap in the face.
Around 100 people whose sensitive claims were mistakenly released to National Party insider Bronwyn Pullar, are suing the accident insurer. They've been offered $250 and an apology - but a woman who doesn't want to reveal her identity, says it's an insult.
She says it was hard to tell her daughter what had happened:
"I thought about it very, very carefully and was just very upfront with her and she was upset, worried about who knew what, because describing abuse is a very hard thing for anybody - especially a child I think."
The woman says ACC has to take more care in the way it deals with its clients.
"What I really want is for ACC to get their act together, tidy up the procedures and how they deal with their clients. I want them to show my daughter that they are very sorry and this is important and she does matter and remunerate her appropriately."
She says she has no confidence that things have improved at ACC.

© 2012 The Radio Network

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbnat/1855189499-acc-s-compensation-a--slap-in-the-face-

14 June 2012

Labour: Stop filthy fleecing ACC claimants

An article from the New Zealand Herald by Adam Bennett

The political firestorm over ACC intensified yesterday with the resignation of chief executive Ralph Stewart triggering an urgent parliamentary debate over the changes needed at the state-owned accident insurer.
Mr Stewart, the former head of investment company AXA NZ, became chief executive of ACC only in September but left yesterday morning after just nine months in the job.
His departure comes hard on the heels of ACC chairman John Judge's resignation on Tuesday and confirmation that directors Rob Campbell and John McCliskie have been told they will not be reappointed.
"I am deeply frustrated that the benefits of the scheme and the great work we do has been overshadowed by recent events," Mr Stewart said.
Those events included the police decision last week not to lay charges against Bronwyn Pullar and TV3's 60 Minutes on Sunday which implied it was ACC managers who first suggested a deal with her for the return of leaked data about thousands of clients.
ACC Minister Judith Collins said Mr Stewart told her on Tuesday "he felt it was time for him to move on".
She said she felt sorry for Mr Stewart. "He's had a tough time."
Greens ACC spokesman Kevin Hague said Mr Stewart's resignation cleared the way for Mrs Collins to lead the process for refreshing ACC by steering it away from what he and others claim has been a focus on denying claims to save money and bringing it back to the principles on which it was founded.
"We need to reverse this culture of disentitlement that's taken hold since 2009 and with those key players - [former ACC minister] Nick Smith, John Judge and Ralph Stewart - gone we've got the environment to do that."
Mr Hague said there were serious questions Mrs Collins needed to answer about her role in the Bronwyn Pullar affair.
But Labour's ACC spokesman, Andrew Little, said Mrs Collins should be the next to go as Mr Stewart's resignation confirmed the depth of the crisis.
"It is an absolute disgrace, and it is entirely the responsibility of that Government", he told the House, and accused Mrs Collins and Dr Smith as her predecessor of driving ACC "into the ground".
Mr Little said ACC now needed a minister who was focused on the needs of ACC claimants rather than on the Government's "tawdry, nasty, filthy little strategy of trying to fleece people and get people to lose their entitlements".
Mrs Collins said it was time for a culture change at ACC but her concerns were about treatment of claimants and their privacy.
"I want to have a situation where ACC has a culture whereby its staff look at their claimants and they ask themselves, 'How would I like to be treated? How would I like my information to be treated?', or, even more so, 'How would I like my mother's information to be treated?"'
Meanwhile, former ACC minister Nick Smith has broken his silence on ACC whistle-blower Bronwyn Pullar.
Dr Smith was forced to resign from Cabinet earlier this year after it was revealed he offered Ms Pullar his support in her long-running fight with the corporation.
Dr Smith told Newstalk ZB opposition and media views on Ms Pullar had been contradictory - while two months ago people were saying she was a villain, she was now being portrayed as a hero.
"And either of those things are true. Bronwyn is a sad case of a very capable person who's had an accident and actually well illustrates the dilemma for many New Zealanders involved in ACC as to what is the appropriate time of rehabilitation," he said.

19 March 2012

ACC whistleblower strikes back

An article from Stuff by Phil Kitchin and Danya Levy

The whistleblower at the centre of an ACC privacy scandal has broken her silence to accuse the corporation of lying to its minister about its account of a key meeting she and former National Party president Michelle Boag held with two senior managers in December.
An ACC report to Minister Judith Collins released on Friday claimed an ACC client, Bronwyn Pullar, threatened to go public with a mass privacy breach and withhold the huge file containing names of sexual abuse victims if the corporation did not give her a "guaranteed benefit payment for two years". The report was complied without ACC speaking to the client or her advocate at the meeting, Boag, and ACC has said it has referred the matter to police.
Pullar today slammed the report as "false". "I made no threats and no demands of ACC. I never mentioned the words 'payment, guaranteed, benefit'. I made no threats and no demands for the return of the information.
"I did not threaten that I would inform the media of the alleged privacy issue. I did not threaten ACC to get my own way in any way. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how ACC could most effectively help my rehabilitation and return to work," she said.
Puller said at the end of the meeting a document was tabled identifying 45 privacy and protocol breaches by ACC and the two senior ACC managers at the meeting, Philip Murch and Hans Verberne, were asked to address those issues with their chief executive Ralph Stewart, their board and Collins as a matter of good corporate governance.
After the meeting ACC sent a letter thanking the client for the meeting and outlining a proposed agreement "to move forward with the management of your claim".
"I believe the meeting was productive and gave ACC the opportunity to understand the issues you have with the management and progress of your claim. As discussed at this meeting ACC would like to find a way forward with your rehabilitation and relationship with you," ACC said.
Pullar has also ridiculed a report today saying she threatened former ACC Minister Nick Smith to go public in an email saying "ACC is rotten to the core and I have numerous examples that could seriously embarrass you over and above this".
Pullar said that email could not be construed as a threat to go public because the same email was copied and sent to five reporters.

PM SAYS NO TO INQUIRY
Prime Minister John Key says he doesn't see the need for an independent inquiry into an ACC privacy breach and the police investigation into alleged demands from a client who was sent the personal information. "All the relevant parties are looking very closely at that, including ACC themselves," he told Newstalk ZB. "I think that is good enough in the way it has been handled internally."
Key said he had met the woman who had been emailed the ACC files, "many years ago". She had raised the issue of ACC compensation with him. The woman was good friends with Michelle Boag and he was unsurprised by the involvement of the former National Party president.
Either ACC or Collins' office appears to have compounded the breach of privacy. Details about Pullar were leaked from an email Boag sent to Collins. The leak was likely to be another breach of the client's privacy because it is understood ACC had no authority to disclose any aspect of the woman's ACC claim to the media.
Media and privacy specialist lawyer Stephen Price said last night that, if the breach came from the minister's office or ACC, there would be good grounds for a complaint to be made to the privacy commissioner.

Labour wants inquiry into ACC breach

A news report from Newstalk ZB by Katie Bradford-Crozier

A former National Party president acted as an advisor for the woman who wrongly received the details of nearly 7,000 ACC claimants.
ACC minister Judith Collins has confirmed Michelle Boag contacted her about the matter.
A report from the corporation to Ms Collins last week alleged the woman asked for two years worth of payments, in return for not making the information public.
Labour's ACC spokesman Andrew Little says it's clear some ethical standards have been breached, and an independent inquiry is needed. "It is most unusual and out of order for someone in Michelle Boag's position, a highly reputable PR person, a person who operates from the political arena, to associate herself with what looks like a pretty dodgy claim."
Ms Collins has confirmed she received an email from Ms Boag, which she passed on to ACC.

© 2012 The Radio Network

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbpol/1848192664-Labour-wants-inquiry-into-ACC-breach

14 March 2012

Peters calls for accountability in ACC

A news report from Newstalk ZB

ACC's being urged to find those responsible for a major privacy breach and hold them to account.
An ACC file holding details on more than 9,000 people was sent to an ACC client.
The information included details about sensitive claims cases involving sexual assault and sexual abuse
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says it's terrible breach of people's rights and privacy and accountability is needed.
"You've got to find out who is in charge of the systems that allow this to happen and that person must be held accountable."

29 August 2010

Figures worry Labour

A news report from Newstalk ZB

Labour is worried about new research on domestic violence which shows women are often not getting help even when they do speak out.
Auckland University has found 40 percent of women who experience sexual or physical abuse at the hands of a partner do not get help when they ask for it.
Labour's Lynne Pillay says the Government is not doing much to help. She says even after ACC's back-flip on sexual abuse counselling, it is still much harder now for victims to get support.
Ms Pillay says it is lunacy to see prevention measures being dumped and the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, in the form of counselling, is gone too, so it is effectively a double whammy.