John Key stole a march on Labour yesterday by devoting a large proportion of his Prime Minister's Statement to Parliament to welfare reform, in particular to measures aimed at improving the care of vulnerable children.
The speech did also mention traditional National Party chestnuts: building a stronger economy, building stronger government accounts and reducing the costs of doing business.
But the focus on welfare reform, with a much different tone from that of previous National administrations, will leave Labour little wiggle room as the election year gets into full swing.
The Government would bring a special focus this year to improving the results of public services for New Zealand's vulnerable children, he said.
Mr Key was concerned that in the past 10 years, despite hundreds of millions of dollars being invested across health, education, the benefit system, Child, Youth and Family and the justice system, public services had often failed the children who needed them most.
Mr Key laid the blame firmly at the feet of the previous Labour government.
Also on the agenda was benefit reform, something tried by earlier National governments, but not ones whose leader had spent his early years in a state house.
Mr Key will use his status as the child of a solo mother on a benefit to build an image of what can be achieved with a hand up rather than a hand out.
The first changes will be to better assist beneficiaries with children back into paid employment, and to ensure they are fulfilling their responsibilities for their children.
Third on his list was getting better results from public services. Translated, that means an amalgamation of more government departments, although no detail is available yet.
Mr Key is putting much on the line this year. The speech yesterday was an earlier-than-normal start to an election campaign.
