The 2008 to 2009 ACC levies have been announced.

The good news is the motorcycle registration levy has remained the same as last year.
However, BRONZ noted that ACC had recommended an increase in the levy. The Minister for ACC did not agree – instead the Hon Ruth Dyson increased the petrol levy from 5.78 cents per litre to 7.33 cents. Your registration levy will stay the same, at $166.50 (plus Land Transport costs and GST, of course). The ACC levy for a car is $111.

Your immediate reaction might be to reject the increase in the petrol levy, but think about it as a motorcyclist.
Currently, we don’t actually have ‘no fault’ cover under ACC, because it groups types of vehicles when setting levies to pay for crash costs. As a result, ACC can make motorcyclists pay more – to cover their increased crash incidence - though it doesn’t separate car types, for example making small car owners pay more because they are more severely damaged when hit by SUVs.
BRONZ is against these groupings, as separating motorcycles from cars also allows ACC to raise the motorcycle levy without increasing the car levy. 
BRONZ has lobbied ACC to remove the separate classification, and make both car and motorcycle owners pay the same levy.

This proposal has been always been rejected – but this year ACC did not get everything it wanted.
In upping the petrol tax, the minister has shared the cost across all petrol-powered vehicles, not just motorcyclists. In effect, it charges more for thirstier vehicles (likely to be larger, and perhaps more damaging to other vehicles they hit) and for distance travelled (the more time you spend on the road, the more likely you are to hit trouble).

Clearly, this is fairer – though a reduction in the registration levy would have been nice too!
ACC will soon consult on the 2008 to 2009 levies, and BRONZ will continue to push for its preferred alternative – levying the entire amount from petrol tax, and removing the registration component entirely.
After all, you can only use one vehicle at a time. If you own heaps of bikes (or cars and bikes) your costs will immediately drop. Of course if you don’t own any – but scrounge off others – you’ll pay the ACC levy according to the distance you travel: you pay for what you use.

You might not like that either, but there has to be a way to fund medical care for accident damage. An ACC system paid for via fuel – ie via the distance you travel – is fair to all road users, and keeps the ACC ideal of a no fault system intact.

Look at how a petrol-based levy system would affect you. BRONZ estimates petrol tax would go up by about ten cents per litre (ACC funding needs divided by the size of the vehicle fleet, average distance traveled etc). If your bike uses eight litres per 100km (which is fairly thirsty for a bike) you’d need to travel about 20,000km each year to pay the same amount in levy terms as you do now, for the registration levy.
Incidentally, ACC is using its Injury Prevention fund (taken from our levies) to support the Ride Right Otago skills training scheme based in Dunedin. It’s money from ACC that ensures the courses can continue for another year.

What do you think of all this? If you want to be involved in the ACC consultation process you can do so directly - or you can join BRONZ. It’s numbers – voting numbers! – that mean most to government. A Bikers Rights of New Zealand that’s supported by a large number of like-minded riders will carry more clout than the same organization with very few members…

If you prefer to have your say directly, keep an eye out on the BRONZ web sites for information on the next consultation round, expected to start in September or October this year: 
www.bronz.org.nz  or www.bronzotago.co.nz.

Impact

Regular readers will know that Bikers Rights of NZ aims to make an impact where it counts – representing motorcyclists to local, regional and national government. But there’s no mileage to working quietly behind the scenes – at times you have to be seen to be there.

Which is where branding comes in. Does BRONZ have an effective image, one that immediately underlines BRONZ stands for?
BRONZ started to look at its branding early last year. At that stage BRONZ Otago still used the original round ‘BRO’ badge design while the other branches were using the winged logo (you’ll be familiar with it from its regular appearances here in Kiwi Rider). 

Otago realized it is important to have a consistent logo and badge used around the country. Its members pointed out we need something that more clearly represents the organization and what it stands for. Preferably, we needed something a little more up to date.

If the logo design could be used to better market BRONZ activities – like the Vincent County Rally, which in the past hasn’t been consistently identified as a BRONZ Otago run event – so much the better.
So at the October 2006 meeting of BRONZ National the issue of branding was discussed at length. 
A change of brand or logo is a big change to make, and the discussions were very vigorous. The old badge designs have been around for over 20 years, and each area was obviously attached to its preferred one for any number of reasons. However, in the end it was agreed the BRO badge did not clearly identify BRONZ, while the winged badge design was seen by some as dated. 

It was accepted that a new design would be the best approach; something which stated the BRONZ name and if possible included its tag line – education not legislation saves lives. 
Meanwhile the discussion also took into account how branding could be used to provide better funding for the BRONZ National organisation, which is currently funded via a levy on national event badges from the Toy Run and Easter Egg Run. 

While this funding has been sufficient for the basic running costs of National, it does not provide fat for anything extra that might be needed – such as national advertising on a political issue. It was agreed that once a new logo had been nationally agreed any items produced for members (such as T-shirts, beanies etc that include the logo) would include a levy payable to National. This would help to build a better financial footing for future work protecting motorcyclists’ right to ride. 
After those discussions members the length and breadth of New Zealand were given time to come up with design options, and in October 2006 the initial draft of the oval BRONZ badge you see here was accepted as the new-look logo.

In April this year the final design was approved, and all BRONZ areas are currently updating anything that uses the logo to reflect the new design. Newsletters, web sites, badges and stationery all have to change, though the most noticeable difference will be the membership badge, which will change for all areas (local BRONZ branches will incorporate the area name).

Does this mean BRONZ has gone all new-age and corporate? Nope – but its members are pleased to have updated its image and logo to suit the modern world. And it’s provided a boost to our efforts to make the BRONZ name even more recogniseable among motorcyclists – as noticeable as the organizations we deal with every day, ACC, Land Transport NZ, Transit etc.