Kevin Hague Archive

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  Greens lead in Bikewise Challenge

  
  
  
  This month is Bikewise month, with events up and down the country promoting the cause of more people riding their bikes more often. Events include the Mayoral Challenge, the Bikers’ Breakfast and the Workplace Challenge, where the people working in a particular workplace compete with other workplaces for the most bike riding during the month. The [...] read more
  February 23, 2010 12:31 pm - 4 Comments
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  Raising the driving age?

  
  
  
  A Herald survey of 2,300 people has shown that 80% favour raising the driving age to 18. It’s hard to work out how representative that survey truly is but 80% seems unbelievably high. Raising the age to 18 would be a huge step up from the current age of 15. It’s more likely the government will raise [...] read more
  January 11, 2010 9:58 am - 34 Comments
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  ACC changes hurt sexual violence victims

  
  
  
  The biker lobby has managed to get considerable public attention and support for motorcyclists’ grievances over ACC levies, but there is a group of more vulnerable people who cannot march in their thousands on Parliament grounds to defend their ACC access. Many of them cannot email Members of Parliament because it exposes them as possibly [...] read more
  December 16, 2009 11:01 am - 4 Comments
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  Levy hikes prelude to privatisation

  
  
  
  If ACC is made to work like an insurance company, then it’s a lot easier to flog bits of it off to insurance companies some time in the future. Levy hikes and entitlement cuts will undermine public confidence in ACC and soften up public opinion for the privatisation agenda. read more
  December 11, 2009 10:35 am - 2 Comments
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  ACC: Mirrors smashed and smoke dispersed

  
  
  
  Crisis! What crisis? ACC’s reserves are now above forecast by $739 million (5.4 percent), a further improvement over last month, said CTU Economist and Policy Director Bill Rosenberg. The main problem is the full funding of future claim payments which means ACC accounts will always be susceptible to large apparent variations which in reality may have little practical consequences for the ACC scheme. read more
  December 4, 2009 6:43 pm - 6 Comments
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  Faux savings from gutting ACC

  
  
  
  Shunting injured people off ACC onto welfare benefits where they may languish for years rather than rehabilitating them into employment is a false saving – as bad for the economy as it is for the injured person. read more
  December 3, 2009 1:52 pm - 7 Comments
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  Nick Smith: I don’t know and I don’t care

  
  
  
  Nick Smith doesn’t know the most basic statistical information necessary to determine the likely extent of cost containment or the impact on claimants of going back to the 1999 work capacity policy. What’s more, he’s not even prepared to have ACC do the analysis to find out. What a shambles! read more
  December 3, 2009 9:59 am - 2 Comments
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  Can you trust Nick Smith?

  
  
  
  In February this year the Green Party heard a rumour that the review of ACC was being conducted solely by Treasury and Business New Zealand, so on 5 March we decided to put this to Nick Smith in the House. read more
  November 26, 2009 3:34 pm - 19 Comments
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  Gutting ACC: Only three days to go for submissions

  
  
  
  The deadline for submissions on the Government’s Bill to gut ACC is only three days away. This Bill is designed to prepare ACC for National’s and Act’s ultimate objective – the privatisation of accident compensation to foreign-owned insurance companies that have to make a profit for their foreign shareholders on the backs of New Zealanders’ injuries. So [...] read more
  November 23, 2009 6:53 pm - 21 Comments
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  Who’s next – here come the health cuts

  
  
  
  As reported in the Herald today, Auckland DHB is worried that it could have $150 million dollars slashed from its budget. This is the natural result of National’s plan to progressively cut the national health budget in coming years without investing in public health initiatives that would help drive down long term health costs. This is [...] read more
  November 19, 2009 3:28 pm - 41 Comments