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ACC - Source: ONE News -
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Hundreds of New Zealand motorcyclists revved up their Harley Davidsons and other machines on Saturday to let the government know they are unhappy about plans to raise ACC charges.
Motorcyclists say they will be hit hard by higher fees and claim they mean discrimination.
Leather-jacketed riders and pillion passengers staged peaceful rallies in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Timaru and other places to press their cause.
In Wellington several hundred bikers left their machines at the foot of the Parliament Buildings'grounds and walked up the grass to the steps of the main building.
They listened quietly to speeches attacking the ACC increases.
In Auckland and Christchurch they tooted horns and revved engines in a loud display of opposition to proposals to up levies by as much as three times current levels.
The new rates are proposed in a controversial bill which also cuts back some ACC entitlements as the Government tries to bring under control what it claims are huge deficits at the department.
In Auckland, Labour leader Phil Goff, a motorbike fan and rider himself, says imposing large increases is "unjustified, unfair and divisive".
He was speaking in Manukau after attending the Auckland part of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club's protests ride.
Goff says the levy for bikes over 600cc will treble from $252 to $735, a jump of just under $500 a year.
"That's unacceptable, outrageous, and unwarranted."
"If you're going to run a user pays system why don't I pay anything on my farm bike? I've got more chance of having an accident on that," says Goff.
