8. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister for ACC: What is the estimated whole-of-life cost to ACC of all new claims made in the financial year ended 30 June 2009?

Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for ACC) : The annual report of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) tabled last week shows that the current estimate for claim costs for the year ended 30 June 2009 is $7.103 billion.

Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. My question asked what was the whole-of-life cost of claims made last year, not what was the current claims liability that year. It is a significantly different answer, and that is clear from the question. The point has been made on notice. I think the Minister should be asked to answer the question.

Mr SPEAKER: I hear the honourable member. I thought the Minister did answer the question.

Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The answer is the advice I have received from ACC. The question was forwarded over to ACC, and that is the answer it has provided me with.

Hon David Parker: Is the Minister really saying that he thinks the whole-of-life cost of claims made in the year ended 2009 was $7 billion?

Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The answer that I have provided to the member is absolutely true, and that is that the current estimate for claims costs for the year ended 30 June 2009 is $7.103 billion.

Hon Annette King: And he’s in charge of ACC!

Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The members interject about who might be in charge of ACC. That is not very good coming from that party when the unfunded liabilities have grown by $13 billion—

Mr SPEAKER: The Minister will resume his seat. The question was perfectly fair. It was examining whether the figure provided by the Minister is accurate. There does not need to be a diatribe against the Opposition on that. It is a perfectly factual question.

Hon David Parker: Will the Minister concede that if it proves to be the case that the estimated whole-of-life cost to ACC of all new claims made in the financial year ended 30 June 2009 is significantly less than the $7 billion he has just told the House, he is not on top of his portfolio?

Hon Dr NICK SMITH: What I think is not on top of a portfolio is when during the period of the last Government it ran—

Hon Darren Hughes: Here we go! Answer the question.

Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I ask members opposite how it is that, in the last 2 years, ACC lost $4.8 billion in the last year and $2.4 billion the previous year. If I were a Labour member I would be ashamed of Labour’s record on accident compensation. Furthermore, we should remember that Labour was the only party that breached the Public Finance Act by trying to hide the mess it left in accident compensation.

Michael Woodhouse: What reports has the Minister seen on not fully funding accident compensation, and returning it to a “pay as you go” model?

Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The problem with “pay as you go” is that the costs of today’s accidents are passed on to future generations. It also changes the financial incentives today to improve safety and makes it easy for politicians to extend the scheme without being upfront with the public about the true costs. I am concerned that the president of the Labour Party is advocating such a change. This contrasts with Labour’s policy in Government, when it actually promised to have the scheme fully funded by 2010. I only wish that it had done that, because my problems would be a fraction of what they are if it had achieved that.