NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

MP wades into ACC battle

Jamie Morton
By Jamie Morton
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
26 Dec, 2012 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Donna Carpenter is getting only a third of the money ACC would pay if she and daughter Paige Laming, who has cerebral palsy, were still in NZ. Photo / Natalie Slade

Donna Carpenter is getting only a third of the money ACC would pay if she and daughter Paige Laming, who has cerebral palsy, were still in NZ. Photo / Natalie Slade

Answers sought on 'devastating' cuts to support payments after family's return to UK.

An MP has demanded ACC explain why it has more than halved overseas care payments to a British woman whose daughter was left severely disabled after a New Zealand medical misadventure.

For more than a year, Donna Carpenter has been embroiled in a long-range battle to get the funds she needs to care for 14-year-old Paige Laming.

Labour's ACC spokesman Andrew Little has now taken up the case and is making his own investigation.

Paige was born in Whakatane Hospital with cerebral palsy, a condition which ACC attributed to a midwife's mismanagement of Mrs Carpenter's traumatic labour and delivery.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Attendant-care payments approved by ACC gave Mrs Carpenter enough to live on as she looked after Paige while the family lived in New Zealand and later Australia.

But when personal circumstances forced her to move to England, the contract changed and the money stopped coming.

ACC reviewed the case this year and offered a package of attendant and sleep-over care, and in the meantime approved care under an "extended discretion" period to allow time to collect medical information from the UK.

In the latest turn, ACC told Mrs Carpenter that as she was no longer being paid as a caregiver for Paige through contracted agency Geneva - and because Geneva was unable to employ carers who lived overseas - the rate had changed again.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The family say the payments had now fallen to a third of what they were, which Mrs Carpenter said had proved "devastating".

ACC has told the family their previous rate would be reinstated should they return to New Zealand, but the Lamings say they have no support network for Paige here.

Their current contract forced them to return to New Zealand several times this year to qualify for payments.

Lawyers had challenged the decision in court, arguing there was "no logical reason" Paige could not receive the same payment in Britain, but the case was dismissed.

Discover more

New Zealand

Help for move to Tonga

15 Dec 04:30 PM
Banking and finance

Outlook slashes tax-take by $8b

18 Dec 04:30 PM
Freight and logistics

'Scrooge' squeezes surplus

18 Dec 04:30 PM
New Zealand

Tetraplegic deported after years of defiance

22 Dec 04:30 PM

Wellington firm John Miller Law, representing the family, launched further tribunal action.

Practice manager Jonathon Miller said the case was a result of Parliament establishing that payment for overseas claimants was available only through attendant care, with decisions at the discretion of ACC and not challengeable.

"No one denies that if Paige was back here in New Zealand, she'd be getting attendant care - but it's just really the stopping of the payments, and whether we can legally challenge that," he said.

"It's not a matter of how horrible the ACC decision seems, or how unjustified it is - the bottom line is there's a provision in the act which says you're not allowed to challenge these types of decisions."

Mr Little said he had not seen anything like the case. "From what I've seen, I can't understand why ACC has made the payments, stopped the payments, and then put them through the extra hassle of demonstrating their situation," he said.

"I just think there's got to be a better and more streamlined way for ACC to handle their particular case. There just seems to be a lack of transparency about it at the very least, and that needs to be clarified."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Citing privacy reasons, ACC said it could not comment on the case.

Mrs Carpenter said she would campaign for legislation to be changed so people damaged as a result of a health professional's actions could be supported wherever they chose to live.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand|crime

‘Hero’ lawyer who rescued torture victim suspended from practice

10 Jul 06:03 AM
New ZealandUpdated

State of Emergency declared for Tasman region, severe weather warnings across NZ

10 Jul 05:51 AM
New ZealandUpdated

'Highly venomous': Deadly sea snake washes up on Coromandel beach

10 Jul 05:38 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

State of Emergency declared for Tasman region, severe weather warnings across NZ

State of Emergency declared for Tasman region, severe weather warnings across NZ

10 Jul 05:51 AM

Heavy rain and strong winds are expected in Auckland and Northland.

'Highly venomous': Deadly sea snake washes up on Coromandel beach

'Highly venomous': Deadly sea snake washes up on Coromandel beach

10 Jul 05:38 AM
Premium
Revealed: The four people charged with reviewing every Treaty clause

Revealed: The four people charged with reviewing every Treaty clause

10 Jul 05:31 AM
Daughter accused of killing mother says she delayed calling 111 out of fear she'd 'be blamed'

Daughter accused of killing mother says she delayed calling 111 out of fear she'd 'be blamed'

10 Jul 05:14 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP