Abstract
In 1974, the New Zealand government created the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) to compensate citizens for all work-related and nonwork-related injuries. The scheme was designed to meet the egalitarian and social welfare goals of New Zealand's government, and replaced a tort liability system like that of the United States. The scheme served two aims: It idealized the goals of social welfare planners, and avoided what was believed to be the problems and excesses of tort liability. This paper critically examines the 25-year history of the ACC. The paper includes descriptions of the ACC's functions and failures, and analyzes the agency's performance in the light of statutory and administrative changes. This examination concludes that financial and political pressures on ACC have led failure of the present system to achieve the social justice principles of the original scheme. The essence of the failure can be seen in recent changes that have resulted in privatization of accident compensation for work-related injuries.
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Lichtenstein, B. From Principle to Parsimony: A Critical Analysis of New Zealand's No-Fault Accident Compensation Scheme. Social Justice Research 12, 99–116 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022043725885
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022043725885