An ACC staff member emailed a recent widow saying: "Just so you know ... I am not God and therefore I do not determine when people live or die".

A new PM defied the odds as the Govt struggled to deal with the worst recession in decades, and Labour played catch up politics.

Steep rises in levies mean a person on the average wage with one car will pay $1300 to ACC each year - $180 more than they do now.

ACC board chairman John Judge today rejected an allegation he had acted politically over levy proposals.

The Govt's ACC levy increases are less than were recommended by the ACC board but still about $200 a year for an average income worker with a car.

Therapists and counsellors say tight new rules for claiming ACC subsidies for sexual abuse counselling have become "a rapists' charter"

Speaker Lockwood Smith has dethroned Prime Minister as 2009's top parliamentary performer, a newsletter claims.

The investment portfolios of ACC and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund continued to prop up the government's books as corporate and personal tax revenues dwindled, says Treasury.

Opposition ACC spokesman David Parker is accusing the Government of misrepresenting ACC's position to soften up the public for major cuts to ACC entitlements.

ACC is still pushing for a large increase in levies, despite a storm of protest over the size of the hikes proposed.

Around 90 per cent of the increases in next year's ACC levies arise from a more conservative approach to ensuring the scheme is adequately funded.

The partner of the Napier siege gunman received nearly $10,000 in ACC compensation after he committed suicide.

Motorcycle protesters are threatening to block shopping mall car parks unless the Government abandons proposed accident compensation levy rises.