"Because they trust his instincts, they trust the Government to maintain support for the most vulnerable, to ensure that the necessary changes we need to make are going to be fair to all New Zealanders. We need to stick to that."
Second was a need to maintain a "relentless focus on the economy and everything that we can realistically do to improve growth". He said the public understood that economic growth came down to realistic graft, not borrowing.
His third point was about getting good results from the public service. English said one of the striking aspects of reaction to Thursday's "sensible budget in uncertain times"was that many of the usually vociferous public-service groups had been "remarkably absent" from political discussion.
"They're not complaining. And the reason is that they've come to believe that the current Government wants to get results for our long-running social problems, not just wring our hands talk about them."
Finally, he said, the party needed to continue to have "confidence in New Zealand".
He said John Key was the best Prime Minister in a generation at articulating that confidence.
A small group of protesters gathered outside the convention, but did not disrupt English's speech.
