New Zealand Human Rights Commission Submission to the CAT in relation to NZ’s 6th periodic review exemplary damages. As in OPCAT the importance of prevention, rehabilitation and compensation are the foundations in the ACC framework. 147. In the summary of the report that led to the establishment of the ACC framework the authors made the following statements: 80 The toll of personal injury is one of the disastrous incidents of social progress, and the statistically inevitable victims are entitled to receive a co-ordinated response from the nation as a whole. They receive this only from the health service. For financial relief they must turn to three entirely different remedies, and frequently they are aided by none. The negligence action is a form of lottery. In the case of industrial accidents it provides inconsistent solutions for less than one victim in every hundred. The Workers' Compensation Act provides meagre compensation for workers, but only if their injury occurred at their work. The Social Security Act will assist with the pressing needs of those who remain, provided they can meet the means test. All others are left to fend for themselves. Such a fragmented and capricious response to a social problem which cries out for co-ordinated and comprehensive treatment cannot be good enough. No economic reason justifies it. It is a situation which needs to be changed. Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation—Injury arising from accident demands an attack on three fronts. The most important is obviously prevention. Next in importance is the obligation to rehabilitate the injured. Thirdly, there is the duty to compensate them for their losses. The second and third of these matters can be handled together, but the priorities between them need to be stressed because there has been a tendency to have them reversed. No compensation procedure can ever be allowed to take charge of the efforts being made to restore a man to health and gainful employment. 80 Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon Workers Compensation. Compensation for personal injury in New Zealand. Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry.Wellington : Govt. Print., 1967 (“Woodhouse Report”) p 19 http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/data/woodhouse/woodhouse1.pdf 59