The ” oh go on, twist my arm’ approach from National on beginning the privatising of ACC as part of its agreement with ACT gave me pause to remember this episode from the 2005 election campaign.

A memo written by the head of the Insurance Council said the following in describing National’s 2005 policy.

“The details of the policy have been deliberately kept out of the announcement after consultation with the Insurance Council.”

He went on to say that National’s announcement would be

very positive for the industry, particularly the scope of the competition across all accounts”.

This has always been where National wants to go with ACC. This approach is fundamentally against the spirit of the ACC scheme. As Sir Owen Woodhouse has said the involvement of private insurers driven by a profit motive will fundementally undermine the scheme