Gavin Walker: Water Safety NZ acting CEO voices disappointment with ACC funding cut

The country's largest water safety group expects a big impact from losing about 20 percent of its annual funding.

ACC's ending its long-standing partnership with Water Safety New Zealand after this summer, saying it hasn't seen a measurable reduction in drowning injury claims.

Water Safety New Zealand will lose about a million dollars a year in ACC funding.

Acting CEO Gavin Walker says ACC's challenge is understandable, but they need the funding to help do life-saving work.

"We're worried that all of that is put at risk without some continuation of funding."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right well. Water Safety New Zealand has had its funding
pulled by ACC. ACC is cutting more than a million dollars,
saying it can't see any measurable reduction in drowning related
injury claims. Gavin Walker is the acting CEO for Water
Safety New Zealand. Hey, Gavin, hi there, pea. Is it fair?
So ACC's argument is basically they can't see that it's
helping it all, so they're pulling the funding. Is that fair?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, it depends what you look at. So ACC's got
a really interesting challenge on its hands. The schemes under pressure,
and from their point of view, a lot of what's
driving cost in the water space. Costs for their scheme
is a whole lot of things like twisted knees, sprains
while out on water craft, and concussion and injuries. That

(00:44):
stuff's really important, but it's not what we're focused on.
We are focused on helping New Zealanders be safe in
the water and reducing loss of life, reducing drowning, and
we think that that needs to continue to be part
of the picture here. We understand ACC's challenge, but actually

(01:06):
the work that we've done over the last twenty five
over the last twenty years together has made a measurable
difference to reduce the drowning risk for New Zealand, and
we're worried that all of that is put at risk
without some continuation of funding.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Are you able to replace this funding? I mean it's
a lot of money, isn't it. It's about one fifth
of what you get.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, it's absolutely It's a big part of our funding
for both our organization and the network of community partners
that we have. We're working really hard to with ministers
and others in New Zealand to see if we can
find alternative ways to replace this funding. But there's no

(01:52):
hiding from the fact that stuff really hurts.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Right Gavin, I really appreciate your time mate this Gavin Walker,
Water Safety New Zealand, Acting Chief Executive. For more from
Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
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