Editorial: Bike owners cry foul

OPINION: You could hear the squeal of the Harley Davidson owners before the ink had dried on proposed changes to accident compensation levies.

The planned hike in fees for motorists and motorcyclists was bound to cause an uproar.

Almost all of us need a vehicle on a daily basis so petrol prices, road user taxes and registration charges are close to the heart or, more importantly, the wallet.

Motorcyclists are going to be slammed hardest if suggested rises are adopted next July.

Currently all motorcycles have an ACC levy of $252.69 in their registration but this will jump to $511.43 for mid-sized bikes and to $745.77. Then there are the school kids (read fee-paying parents) on their scooters whose fees will bound from $58.97 to $257.58.

Justification for this, according to ACC Minister Nick Smith and board chairman John Judge, is in the figures.

Treatment for motorcycle riders cost $62 million in the 2008-2009 year but levies from them amounted to only $12m.

It is hard to argue against that.

The massive increases aimed at the two-wheelers just highlights what a sorry mess ACC has become. The corporation was introduced in 1974 on April Fool's Day which probably says much about what it has become – a $24 billion liability to the taxpayer.National promised to put the boot into bureaucrats and under-performing government departments when it came to power last year.

ACC was clearly in its sights and so it should have been.

Quite apart from the horrific imbalance between money taken in and that dished out, New Zealanders have become sick of the tales that have leaked from the corporation throughout its 35-year existence.

Remember the outrage of the prisoner being paid ACC for injuries suffered during the act of crime?

While those criminal instances might be a fraction of the ACC's overall costs it nevertheless highlights the stupidity of parts of its system.

Past abusers of ACC are partly responsible for the current tightening in all areas.

If, and there will be, further scams involving ACC then the penalties for future breaches should rise by the same degree as those planned for motorcyclists' fees.

But that won't happen, of course, as it is far easier to belt the punter in the pocket. These planned increases for all motorists, combined with other cuts and changes to the present level of services, will put this Government's popularity to its sternest test.

You can bet motorcyclists will be out in force protesting the "injustice" facing them.

It is almost a given they will rally en masse to Parliament before next July.

Let's just hope it's not the same day as disgruntled car owners.