Hastings councillor Simon Nixon says ACC needs to 'come to party' over gastro outbreak

Hastings councillor Simon Nixon says he is only just recovering properly now, eight months after the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak. Photo / File

Hastings councillor Simon Nixon is defending his decision to vote against a community assistance grant, saying there was not enough information about the extent of the problem to put a monetary value to the commitment.

The Hastings District Council last week voted to support a $100,000 fund to distribute among people still suffering after the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak.

Mr Nixon said although he supported the concept he voted against signing off the fund when it was not possible to measure the extent of the problem.

Although other councillors also raised similar concerns, Mr Nixon was the only one to vote against the proposal.

He cited the "scattergun" approach to the water supply targeted rate remittance after the outbreak that amounted to about $340,000.

"I was strongly opposed to that rates rebate.

"There were a lot of people that must have suffered severe financial hardship, but there was a lack of targeting with that rate rebate.

"A lot of houses got a reduction even though they had not suffered from the outbreak, while at the same time there were many people who had been struck down that did not get that financial relief.

"For example, I have only heard of one landlord so far who passed that rebate on to tenants."

In addition, he said, there were a lot of people who got sick who didn't live in the region, so did not qualify for the rates rebate.

"This happened last August and we still do not know how many people are coming right or not."

Mr Nixon himself fell ill at the time of the outbreak and has only recently considered himself to be nearing full recovery.

After being laid up in bed for a week, and then suffering very low energy, he said a couple of months later he also came out in an uncomfortable rash of red spots over his entire body that did not go away until last month.

Although he could not definitely say that was linked to the campylobacter, he was now feeling better although was not 100 per cent sure he had completely shaken the effects.

He said that in his view the council should be putting more pressure on the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) to provide assistance.

"ACC has to come to the party, and the other agencies as well like the Ministry of Social Development."

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said the council had asked ACC to formally review its position, and that request was currently in front of ACC's lawyers.

The council had also written to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council asking it to make a contribution to the community assistance fund, and expected to have the terms and conditions for applying for the fund established next week.

Mr Yule noted that the figure of $100,000 might have to be revisited depending on demand.

"If we keep stalling though we are never going to get it done - people want help yesterday."

ACC was still waiting for legal advice on whether the regulation infringements admitted by the councils - as outlined in the Havelock North water inquiry report - could be considered criminal acts under legislation.

A spokesperson said yesterday that it had still received only five claims to date from people affected by the outbreak.

Specialist ACC lawyer John Miller, from Wellington, said the corporation would be cautious because it would not want to open the floodgates for litigation.

"This issue with criminal acts has not really been tested - it may be that once you start looking at that it could start bringing all matter of traumatic diseases into ACC for breaches of regulation - it could be so wide."

That should not put people off making individual claims as they were absolutely entitled to do, he said.

"If it was a member of my family I would be encouraging them to lodge a claim with the doctor just to get it loaded within the time limit."

ACC had to accept claims within 12 months of a personal injury, Mr Miller said, but if lodged later there were potential difficulties that the claim could be rejected if ACC felt that the claim's lateness prejudiced the corporation's ability to make a decision.