Two a penny

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New Zealanders will have to pay more to get less under proposed ACC changes announced today.

An average worker will have to pay $300 a year more if the Government passes legislation to cut entitlements.

Employee levies are currently $1.

But if its amendment bill does not pass, the increase in levies advanced by ACC will be even higher. That will increase to $2.5110 per $100 of liable earnings.4889 if Parliament doesn’t accept it.1778 under the amendment or $2.47 per $100 (from $1.

Employers will face an increase of $1.89 if it does not.31) if the legislation passes or $1.28 a year in petrol tax and registration fees to $317.

The cost of owning a motor vehicle will increase by $30.28 without.28 with the legislative changes or $417.

The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill includes a number of cuts in entitlements which ACC Minister Nick Smith said were necessary to reduce ACC’s liability.

The increases to the employer and employee level should be in force by April.

Many of the changes remove entitlements established by Labour last year.

The changes would apply to new claimants – current income compensation would not be cut, he said.

People, and their families, who commit suicide or acts of self-harm, will no longer be eligible for compensation.

Those included compensation for casual and part-time workers which would be calculated to reflect their earnings over the past year rather than past four weeks to prevent them earning more on ACC than when working, reducing compensation for loss of earnings for non-earners from 100 percent to 80 and holiday pay being taken as earnings and weekly ACC compensation not be paid simultaneously.

He would not say whether that was an incentive for people contemplating suicide.

Dr Smith said if someone with a family committed suicide the family could have been given almost $1 million in compensation over time. .

Suicide was tragic but not an accident, he said.

Compensation will also be automatically withdrawn for anyone who convicted of committing a serious crime and imprisoned.

Prisoners currently receive medical treatment and rehabilitation under ACC as part of their care.

Dr Smith said the changes were aimed at cutting ACC’s liabilities by $2 billion and would secure the long-term future of ACC.

“I’m actually reasonably confident that the package that we have announced today is what’s going to be required to fix it (ACC).”

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Australian schoolgirl skipper Jessica Watson, 16, has crashed her yacht on the first leg of her solo around-the-world voyage.

Watson’s sloop, Ella’s Pink Lady, hit a merchant ship close to Stradbroke Island about 2.

The Buderim schoolgirl contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which was monitoring her journey, and was told to turn her motor on and head back to Southport on the Gold Coast. .

AMSA spokeswoman Tracy Jiggins said the 16-year-old collided with the merchant ship about 15 nautical miles, or about 28 kilometres, east of Point Lookout on Stradbroke Island.

The teenager was not injured in the collision, but her yacht’s mast and bow were substantially damaged.

“Her parents contacted the our rescue co-ordination centre which advised Watson to turn her motor back on and head to Stradbroke Island,” Ms Jiggins said. It is understood the bulk carrier did not stop after the collision.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will also investigate the crash.

It is understood Watson later agreed to travel to Southport on the Gold Coast.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Brett Harrison said conditions in the area at the time of the crash were relatively calm.

Watson left Mooloolaba Wharf on Tuesday on a week-long test run ahead of her world record attempt to be the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. The wind weren’t particularly strong.

“There would have been come showers around earlier earlier today.

The attempt has divided public opinion, with parents and child safety groups labelling it irresponsible and fraught with danger. It doesn’t look particularly bad, apart from a few showers, Mr Harrison told ABC Radio.

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It will be fascinating to observe Luke McAlister, should he play well and the All Blacks beat Australia tomorrow night.

For now, limited gametime and patchy performances mean he does not exactly reek of confidence. And perhaps that will prove the opportunity he needs to recapture some spark, on and off the paddock.

But with Dan Carter now responsible for steering the team from first five-eighth, moving out to 12 means there is less pressure on McAlister. I can’t think, ‘oh, I haven’t really played much rugby’ otherwise I’ll go into the game with the wrong frame of mind,” he said.

“I’ve just got to go out there and believe in myself and have the self-confidence to do well with the boys. It’s great to be named in the starting XV.

“I’ve done all the training and everything, to give myself that confidence.”

McAlister described the chance to run more from second five-eighth as “one of the perks” of the job, while his strong right boot should complement Carter’s left-foot kicking game nicely. It definitely lifts you and lifts that motivation throughout the week, when you are starting.”

The All Blacks’ last outing, in Durban, where they lost 31-19 to South Africa was characterised by some crazy attempts to run the ball out of trouble.

“It’s the same as the Aussie boys [Matt Giteau and Berrick Barnes] and gives us another option and hopefully we’ll be able to get the ball and Dan will put me in a few holes, which would be nice.

As the All Blacks backs ran drills at training yesterday with assistant coach Wayne Smith, the pack was at the far end of the ground, working on its lineout repertoire.

While “saddened” that the kick has become king in rugby, McAlister said he and his team-mates had to accept it and take a more prudent approach to dealing with that aerial bombardment.

It was teapots all round and the slightly worrying sight of forwards coach Steve Hansen literally having to move players like building blocks to ensure they were standing in the right place. There was plenty of variation but one common theme the ball kept going astray.

Nonetheless, hooker Andrew Hore said he was relatively pleased with how things are progressing. It was hardly the authoritative display you would expect from an elite international team in its last serious hit-out before a test match. . “It always goes well at training, when you’ve got no-one jumping against you and stuff

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Insect bites sting ACC for millions

– Sunday, 01 March 2009

Mozzies are costing taxpayers money.

BITES AND stings from mosquitoes, bees and other creepy crawlies have cost taxpayers more than $11 million over the past four years, as Kiwis troop to their doctors suffering from allergic reactions, infections and rashes.
Victims can claim compensation from ACC if the symptoms from a bite or sting are bad enough to be deemed an injury. And payments are on the rise. They also cover hospital treatment, often necessary if the area becomes seriously infected. The payments cover everything from doctor's appointments to antihistamine tablets, antibiotics and ointments, and adrenalin injections for the severely allergic. That's more than double the $1,496,957 it paid in the year up to June 2004. In the year to June 2008, ACC paid out $3,302,523 in insect bite claims.85m. The total over the four years from 2004 was $11. Bites from fleas, ticks and flies racked up almost $50,000 last year, while bedbugs were the least costly, with just five claims totalling $184 last year.
The stingers bees, bumble bees and wasps top the payout lists, with spiders second and mosquitoes third.
Auckland GP Jonathan Fox, head of the Royal New Zealand College of GPs, said while most people won't go to the doctor with an "ordinary" bite, some need treatment for allergies. Another $2m in claims were attributed to "unspecified" creatures. I have seen some really unpleasant infected legs, and things like that, from infected insect bites. "But probably the most common thing we see is infection.
"If untreated, infection can be quite debilitating."
Any kind of bite or sting anything that breaks the skin can lead to cellulitis and other serious skin infections, said Fox. [The rise in ACC payments] may be a reflection of that that families have been taking children with infected insect bites to the doctor more often, knowing it's going to be covered by ACC. In areas such as South Auckland there have been major campaigns to try and cut down on skin infections. ."
ACC spokeswoman Stephanie Julian thought the increase could be due to a computerised system, and public awareness.

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‘Clip-on’ theatres to boost surgery

By REBECCA PALMER Saturday, 28 February 2009

Two "clip-on" theatres will be used to boost the number of operations carried out at Hutt Hospital until its expansion is finished.
The operating theatres, being made off-site, will be erected next to the day surgery unit on the first floor of the emergency department and theatre block by October. That expansion will double the number of permanent operating theatres from four to eight, increase the size of the emergency department and add a new intensive care unit.
They will be used until 2011, when Hutt Valley District Health Board's $82 million revamp is due to be complete. "Without them, we would have no hope of meeting the new Government's requirements for increased elective surgery.
Acting chief executive Michael Hundleby said the two temporary theatres were needed to provide extra space until then. It would be used for day surgery. .5 million, including more than $1 million worth of medical equipment that would be transferred to the permanent operating theatres once they had been built.
It would cost about $2. Because most of the construction would take place off-site, there would be "minimal disruption" to the hospital and its neighbours, Mr Hundleby said.
The temporary theatres would then be removed and sold. Last year its staff performed 8092 operations, of which 3954 were elective (non-urgent) the most procedures it had ever done.
The hospital had been designed to care for about 25,000 people a year but was now coping with more than 40,000.
Mr Hundleby said that, for the past few years, the district health board had been using the national mobile surgical bus and private hospitals to supplement its operating theatres. The board expects to perform even more surgery this year and for demand to continue increasing."
Health Minister Tony Ryall said this week that he planned to talk to both Hutt Valley and Capital and Coast district health boards about the possibility of an elective surgery "super-centre" for the Greater Wellington region. "But both these options have become increasingly hard to access.
Mr Hundleby said that, while Hutt Hospital's expansion would double its number of operating theatres, it was already time to start planning beyond that.
Three Auckland health boards have already put together a proposal for extra operating theatres there.
A Health Ministry report made public this week says the country needs 26 extra operating theatres by 2026, in order to meet surgery targets and increased patient numbers.
Hutt Valley DHB was keen to work with other health boards on a proposal for another four theatres for the Greater Wellington region, he said.

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Stay out of the water

Harbour sewage alert after deluge

and PAUL EASTON Saturday, 21 February 2009

A massivedownpour that brought a month's worth of rain in just a few hours has sparked health warnings after raw sewage poured into Wellington Harbour and Lyall Bay.
The downpour overwhelmed the city's drainage system yesterday morning sending untreated sewage into a street near Courtenay Place, a day before the entertainment zone holds the Cuba St Carnival parade.
The city copped 69 millimetres of rain yesterday, well over the expected entire February average of 62mm.
The overflow also sparked warnings about swimming at several beaches.
Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean confirmed last night that warning signs had been erected at Lyall Bay beach.
The lashing caused surface flooding and slowed traffic to a crawl, sparking a slew of accidents, and slips that blocked Rimutaka Hill Rd.
There were further discharges near the international passenger terminal and Kaiwharawhara stream which also discharges into the harbour.
Similar advisories were in place for Wellington Harbour after sewage diluted by stormwater was discharged at the long outfall at Moa Point.
"But it is very diluted sewage.
"People should probably stay out of the water," Mr MacLean said. The council would review results before lifting the warnings." Water quality testing would be carried out by council officials and Regional Public Health during the weekend. An "absolutely nauseating" smell had enveloped her property towards the bay's western end.
A Lyall Bay resident said the sewage had been leaking into the area for the past week."
The council spent $4 million on a stormwater upgrade in 2004 after a similar incident with sewage in Bond St in 2004. .
"Large amounts of fat are not supposed to get into the sewerage system so we'll be doing a check of grease traps in the area to make sure they're operating and being maintained properly.
Mr MacLean said the sewer blockage that resulted in untreated sewage spew near the intersection of Courtenay Place and Tory St was caused by a combination of the heavy rain and a buildup of congealed fat in the sewer.30am to complain."
StarMart manager Priyank Jain said he was first alerted to the spillage after customers came in to the store about 8.
The low was anchored off Westland yesterday.
Yesterday's onslaught came as a deep low brought warm moist air from the subtropics, MetService duty forecaster Oliver Druce said.
Mr Druce said the rain was forecast to ease in the North Island. An associated front sent heavy rain up the North Island.

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Stay out of the water

Harbour sewage alert after deluge

and PAUL EASTON Saturday, 21 February 2009

A massivedownpour that brought a month's worth of rain in just a few hours has sparked health warnings after raw sewage poured into Wellington Harbour and Lyall Bay.
The downpour overwhelmed the city's drainage system yesterday morning sending untreated sewage into a street near Courtenay Place, a day before the entertainment zone holds the Cuba St Carnival parade.
The city copped 69 millimetres of rain yesterday, well over the expected entire February average of 62mm.
The overflow also sparked warnings about swimming at several beaches.
Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean confirmed last night that warning signs had been erected at Lyall Bay beach.
The lashing caused surface flooding and slowed traffic to a crawl, sparking a slew of accidents, and slips that blocked Rimutaka Hill Rd.
There were further discharges near the international passenger terminal and Kaiwharawhara stream which also discharges into the harbour.
Similar advisories were in place for Wellington Harbour after sewage diluted by stormwater was discharged at the long outfall at Moa Point.
"But it is very diluted sewage.
"People should probably stay out of the water," Mr MacLean said. The council would review results before lifting the warnings." Water quality testing would be carried out by council officials and Regional Public Health during the weekend. An "absolutely nauseating" smell had enveloped her property towards the bay's western end.
A Lyall Bay resident said the sewage had been leaking into the area for the past week."
The council spent $4 million on a stormwater upgrade in 2004 after a similar incident with sewage in Bond St in 2004. .
"Large amounts of fat are not supposed to get into the sewerage system so we'll be doing a check of grease traps in the area to make sure they're operating and being maintained properly.
Mr MacLean said the sewer blockage that resulted in untreated sewage spew near the intersection of Courtenay Place and Tory St was caused by a combination of the heavy rain and a buildup of congealed fat in the sewer.30am to complain."
StarMart manager Priyank Jain said he was first alerted to the spillage after customers came in to the store about 8.
The low was anchored off Westland yesterday.
Yesterday's onslaught came as a deep low brought warm moist air from the subtropics, MetService duty forecaster Oliver Druce said.
Mr Druce said the rain was forecast to ease in the North Island. An associated front sent heavy rain up the North Island.

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Lotto luck: the big winners and the also-rans

By FINBARR BUNTING – Sunday, 18 January 2009

The luckiestpeople live in Buller – but pity the poor folk in Queenstown.
Last year Buller residents won more playing Lotto per head of population than any other district in the country, new figures from NZ Lotteries show.
Second luckiest are those from central Hawke's Bay, who won $445 per head of population followed by New Plymouth with $293 a total earned partly by a massive $18m first division win last April.
A $6 million Powerball ticket won in Reefton in October helped boost the region's rankings to $731 per person, pushing Buller district way out in front. Owner Vanessa Watson says the "power of positive thinking" helps them keep the golden run that has seen at least two previous first division winners.
Gold Reef Stationers, sellers of the $6m ticket, does a bumper trade in churning out winning tickets.
Rotorua district, average $169, and Papakura district with $160 complete the top five regions for luckiest Kiwis.
The town is known for its mining, so the residents don't mind taking a bit of a risk, she says. Wairoa fared little better at $3 average per person. .. Betty Sinclair of Windsor Take Note Lotto shop in Southland says: "It is a game of chance and prizes can go anywhere."
Sinclair is looking on the bright side though, saying, "We are going very well at the moment and Southlanders are positive.."
NZ Lotteries chief executive Todd McLeay says the results show "that you can win wherever you are, but the West Coast of the South Island was particularly lucky last year. I expect we'll do much better this year."
Unfortunately for the main centres, none of them could crack the top 10.
"We sometimes get comments from our South Island players that Auckland gets all the big prizes, but these results show that lottery winnings are fairly evenly spread throughout New Zealand.

. Wellington residents averaged $90 giving them 14th place; Dunedinites won $50 per head handing them 17th place; Aucklanders averaged $41 putting them in at 22nd place, Christchurch came in at 31st with a $28 average and Hamilton, the last of the big cities, at 41st place with $16

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Key undecided on Transmission Gully route

The Friday, 16 January 2009

Prime Minister John Key says an alternative northern route out of Wellington is critical but that questions remain over whether that route would be Transmission Gully.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Key mirrored comments made earlier in the week by Transport Minister Steven Joyce, who said he had a "mixed view" on whether the $1.
Mr Key said Wellington needed an alternative route, but he had not seen enough of the comprehensive work to give an opinion on his favoured option.025 billion Gully project was the right option for improving Wellington's northern transport corridor.
The previous Labour government approved the project last June, with former transport minister Annette King telling the New Zealand Transport Agency to move forward with resource consents for Transmission Gully.
"I don't think there is a debate over the fact that there needs to be an alternative northern route out of Wellington, and the question here is simply, what is the right route?" he said.
However, her government committed just $400 million of the $1.
That effectively ended debate on which route the Gully or improving the coastal highway would go ahead.
They have till the end of this year to do that, with options including a regional fuel tax and tolling.025 billion cost, leaving local councils to fund the rest. .
Mr Joyce's comments this week signalled a step back, something Mr Key agreed with.
"We're just working our way through that programme. It just happened to announce it without announcing the $600 million extra that they needed to fund it."

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‘Oh my god, the Gaza Strip has come to Invercargill’

By EVAN HARDING – Thursday, 15 January 2009

JOHN HAWKINS/
SHOCKED AND HURT: Israeli nationals Natalie Bennie, left, and Tamara Shefa, with Mrs Bennie’s two children Noah, 2, and Ella, 4, were told to leave Mevlana Cafe in Invercargill because they were from Israel. .
Sisters Natalie Bennie and Tamara Shefa were upset after being booted out of the Mevlana Cafe in Esk St by owner Mustafa Tekinkaya.

Two women were shocked after being kicked out of an Invercargill cafe yesterday because they come from Israel.
"He heard us speaking Hebrew and he asked us where we were from.
They chose to eat at Mevlana Cafe because it had a play area for Mrs Bennie's two children, but they were told to leave before they had ordered any food, Mrs Bennie said. It was shocking. I said Israel and he said `get out, I am not serving you'.
"I have decided as a protest not to serve Israelis until the war stops."
Mr Tekinkaya, who is Muslim and from Turkey, said he was making his own protest against Israel because it was killing innocent babies and women in the Gaza Strip.
His stance was supported by neighbouring Turkish Kebabs shop owner Ali Uzun, who said he was also refusing to serve Israelis."
He said he had nothing against Israeli people but if any more came into his shop they would also be told to leave, and he was not concerned if he lost business.
"I just don't think I should be declined service because I am from Israel.
Mrs Bennie said she did not disagree that Israel was committing crimes against children.
"I wouldn't mind having a chat to him."
She had rung the Human Rights Commission and was told the cafe owner's actions were against the law because he was discriminating on the basis of ethnicity.
Ms Shefa is visiting Mrs Bennie at her Makarewa home, on the outskirts of Invercargill, where she lives with her New Zealand husband and two children. Someone has to put him in his place," Mrs Bennie said.
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt was shocked when told of the incident.
Both women said they had travelled widely, and to places much more hostile than New Zealand, but had never been treated in such a way. Hell's bells.
"Oh my god, the Gaza Strip has come to Invercargill.
"Generally speaking I am against all wars and I suppose people have got a right to protest."
He said he was bewildered. It would have been upsetting for the women and I feel sympathy for them. It would have been upsetting for the women and I feel sympathy for them."