Government barely further ahead than a year ago, National leader Simon Bridges says

The coalition Government is barely any further ahead than it was a year ago, National leader Simon Bridges says.

Calling Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's speech today a "rah-rah" speech that resembled a Ted Talk, Bridges said she was "desperate to show a united Government after the shambles of the past few weeks".

"It is easy to give a rah-rah speech. What is in question is her judgment, her ability to lead a competent Government and whether her administration has a plan for dealing with the real issues facing New Zealand," Bridges said in a statement.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters insist the coalition is solid. Photo / NZME

Ardern, who was joined by New Zealand First and the Green Party for a slickly presented event at the AUT campus in Auckland today, outlined the 12 priority areas the Government was working on.

They have been distilled from the coalition and confidence and supply agreements and other documents, and refined by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a blueprint.

They have also been agreed by all of Cabinet.

Progress on the work plan will be reviewed every six months, with Ardern given the ability to make minor amendments to outcomes until the first review in February 2019.

"It is barely 10 months since the Speech from the Throne, which along with the coalition agreements was meant to be the riding instructions for this Government. They weren't prepared for Government and are barely any further ahead now than they were a year ago," Bridges said.

"Today's speech is like a TED Talk and shows a Trump-like attempt to avoid tough questions with a stage-managed pep rally and carefully vetted questions. This is a Government in damage control trying desperately to get itself together."

Act leader David Seymour called it an "underwhelming announcement".

"In a speech reminiscent of an 'all style, no new substance' TEDx talk, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spouted the same tax and spend policy approach we came to expect from National," Seymour said.

"In today's announcement, she's just bottled up the same basic policy descriptions of the previous National Government and hid it under better marketing."

"This is a Government scrambling to fill two more years with no new ideas," he said.