GOVERNMENT DETERMINED TO TARGET DRUNK DRIVERS

The Minister of Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance, the Hon Jenny Shipley, says today's High Court decision on compensation for a drunk driver highlights why the Coalition Government is reviewing this area.

The High Court has today released its decision in the case of the Accident Compensation Corporation vs Anthony Thomas Rogers.

Mr Rogers was involved in a road accident in 1987, and was found to have had a blood alcohol level of 248 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, over three times the legal limit.

Four occupants of the other vehicle in the accident were killed.

The ACC had sought special leave to appeal to the High Court to have Mr Rogers' weekly compensation stopped, on the grounds of repugnance to justice.

But that has today been dismissed.

Jenny Shipley says the courts are interpreting the law as it currently stands, but it's becoming increasingly clear that the law does not meet public expectations.

"Public opinion has shifted to a point where there is an expectation that people who drink and drive should feel the full consequences of their actions."

Mrs Shipley says that she and the Associate Minister of Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance, Deborah Morris, are enacting the Coalition Agreement in this area. The Ministers have asked officials to report on how the law can be amended to give ACC the right to withhold earnings related compensation from repeat offender drunk drivers.

"I aim to include that in a package of measures targeting drunk drivers, which I want to bring before parliament in the second half of this year."