John Armstrong: Sales pitch for a fourth term

Unlike some of her predecessors, the Prime Minister has never thought much of glossy "vision" documents filled with ambitious economic and social targets and designed as road maps to a better New Zealand.

Such documents usually have a short shelf life, often serving no other purpose than to show a struggling government trying to turn over a new leaf.

However, while still a long way off producing a vision statement, Labour's embarking on a third term in the Beehive has prompted Helen Clark to establish a new framework to guide her Government.

With little fanfare, the Government has come up with three guiding priorities: transforming the economy; ensuring families enjoy more opportunity and security; and building pride in the unique national identity of New Zealand.

These may seem obvious things for a government to be doing. However, Labour has not always been good at communicating where it is going as a government, even if it knows itself.

That was less of a problem during Labour's first two terms. These were essentially devoted to first rebuilding State-delivered social services after National's tenure on the Treasury benches and then producing a social dividend in the form of Working for Families.

However, after last year's election, there was an inevitable weariness in some parts of the Beehive. There was the feeling that Labour had run out of fresh ideas. True or not, the Prime Minister had to stifle talk that her Administration was suffering classic third-term blues.

Helen Clark needed a framework to underpin Government activity, keep her ministers focused on the job and ensure the bureaucracy delivered policy initiatives in line with Labour's goals.

The Budget has consequently been constructed around the three 10-year priorities and their various sub-themes.

For example, one sub-theme of "economic transformation" is making Auckland an internationally competitive city. That is code for saying Auckland has a huge infrastructure deficit. Boosting infrastructure, such as roading, will be a feature of Thursday's document.

The priorities also have a number of unwritten but highly political sub-themes. Economic transformation is about persuading voters that Labour is a better manager of the economy than National. The emphasis on families is about ensuring people do not feel worse off relative to others. There is a political dividend when people bask in the reflected glory of New Zealanders performing well in international competition.

The priorities were given their first workout in the Prime Minister's address to Parliament at the start of the year. Helen Clark then briefed heads of government departments.

The new priorities had a dramatic impact on the preparation of the Budget. Previously ministers had to battle individually with finance ministers over how much extra they would be able to spend.

This year ministers have worked in three groups reflecting the priorities - the change apparently making it easier to choose spending priorities as they could see each others' portfolio work programme.

To further keep voters in the loop, the Prime Minister wants her ministers to give more "big picture" speeches covering their portfolio responsibilities. The sales pitch will be complemented by Labour's now-standard post-Budget publicity blitz which will see MPs fan out across the country.

However, Labour is now planning similar blitzes around other dates when legislation is implemented, such as April 1, October 1 and July 1.

The talk in the Beehive is of Labour necessarily being more "strategic" when it comes to getting its message across. It shows Labour is finding its own solutions to counter the third-term blues - and that the Prime Minister has her eyes focused firmly on a fourth.