Over the past year or so, ACC have had a senior director sue a claimant over defamation, a client's details emailed to three services that had no dealings with that client, and now this latest fiasco.
ACC is a government department tasked with managing many facets where especially client information is confidential. Yet in about one year, they have been far from confidential in dealing with their information. A Royal Commission of Inquiry needs to be established to look into how ACC runs it's business, how information can be sent to the wrong poeple, and how ACC deals with the fallout, especially pertaining to those clients under the SCU whose lives are already a misery without having this hanging over their heads.
Like Pike River, Cave Creek and other accidents, the fallout is disastrous. People are getting hurt and others are not guaranteed to be hurt either down-track, under the current ACC regime. And it's costing the government. Every time there is a glitch in ACC, ACC personnel and other workers in the industry of counselling and care face running up bills to compensate for these errors. Clients are of course the worst affected, but the financial aspect of that area is murky, but it's fair to say that there is a monetary cost. Yes, it costs the Government, and it costs the people who are under ACC. And it's not good business practice. ACC needs a huge overhaul, and maybe an injection of new staff. The days of The Jobs For The Boys are long gone, yet government departments still operate on a Who You Know Not What You Know basis.
So If there is a Royal Commission of Inquiry, who gets investigated. Well it starts at the top. The Minister for ACC and his department heads all need to be made accountable. Sure the Minister isn't directly to blame, but he does have the final say in who department heads are. The SCU needs a shake up. And it seems other department heads too need to be made accountable. If it means hiring and firing, so be it. Anything to ensure that the past years hiccups do not resurface ever again.
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