Labour ACC spokesperson Camilla Belich. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Labour says it will consider expanding ACC mental injury cover to volunteers who've been affected by traumatic events.
Current legislation meant volunteers were only covered for physical injuries sustained by responding to events like the Mt Maunganui landslide.
Labour ACC spokesperson Camilla Belich said last year it received a petition from volunteer firefighters on the issue, and felt they had identified an inconsistency in the law.
"Obviously we rely heavily on volunteer firefighters in New Zealand, we rely on them to go into emergency situations and save lives."
Belich said Labour would consider changing the rules to cover mental injury for all volunteers.
"If they are injured and they receive a diagnosis of something like PTSD, they should be able to claim ACC in the same way that their paid counterparts would be."
Belich said the cost to ACC would be manageable, despite the entity running huge deficits.
"We did look into the cost issue and we know the government requested and received advice from ACC on what the cost of this could be and it really is quite minimal."
She said the cost of not covering volunteers also should be considered.
"The cost of that is the fact that we have people who are performing work for free for the benefit of all of us... and when they need support from ACC, ACC is not there for them at the moment."
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