The present Accident Compensation Act is called the Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001 and is the 5th major Act in 28 years dealing with our "no fault" accident compensation scheme.
The scheme was introduced in 1974 based on the report of the 1967 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Compensation for Personal Injury in New Zealand under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Woodhouse (subsequently the Rt Hon Sir Owen Woodhouse), commonly referred to as the “Woodhouse Report”. That report proposed a “no fault” system based on five basic principles:
(a)
Community responsibility;
(b)
Comprehensive entitlement;
(c)
Complete rehabilitation;
(d)
Real compensation; and
(e)
Administrative efficiency.
The scheme involved a trade-off in the form of loss of the common law right to sue for damages for personal injury in a New Zealand Court (except in respect of punitive or exemplary damages) in return for delivery of the three main purposes under the first 1972 Act (in force 1974). These were to:
(a)
(a) Promote safety by preventing accidents;
(b)
Promote the rehabilitation of injured people; and
(c)
Provide compensation for the injured and for the dependants of certain people whose death resulted from injury.
The articles to the left written by John Miller provide 1) a basic overview and 2) analysis of the fundamental policy shift introduced by the National Government with the 1992 & 1998 Acts which abolished lump sum compensation and introduced work capacity assessments. Claims for nervous shock were also barred. This period also saw private insurers permitted to administer the scheme in a “leaner, meaner” Act in line with National’s business policies.
The 2001 Act represented an attempt by the Labour Government to return to a public scheme and remove competition from workplace insurance. Lump sum compensation was reintroduced for injuries occurring after 1 April 2002 but not to the same extent as under the earlier 1972 and 1982 Acts. In a nutshell, the Labour Government returned the scheme to its founding principles but not as generously as it had before.
