'Our bottom line is you': Simon Bridges' pitch to middle NZ at conference

National leader Simon Bridges has unveiled the new slogan for the party at its annual conference in Christchurch this morning: "Our bottom line is you."

But he says it is not aimed at taking the focus away from him because of his low polling in the preferred Prime Minister stakes, which is sitting at about 5 per cent.

"What is the most important part of the economy? Is it GDP? Is it interest rates? Is it the sharemarket? It's actually you. The people of New Zealand," Bridges told the conference this morning.

About 600 members, including Sir John Key and Steven Joyce, packed the Town Hall and heard Bridges' new pitch to middle New Zealand voters.

Bridges hit out against the Government, citing the growing number of beneficiaries, low business confidence, and its faltering KiwiBuild programme.

"We weren't perfect on this, but we weren't Phil Twyford either," Bridges said.

"A strong economy means we can provide the healthcare you deserve. We can have an education system where your children go on to lead successful and fulfilling lives.

"It means you will have a warm, dry and affordable home. It means safer roads that don't leave you in congestion so you can get home to your family faster."

He called for a welfare system that was not "a hammock and the soft bigotry of low expectations that we are seeing today".

National has released discussion documents on the environment, the primary sector and international affairs, and Bridges said a clear plan on health, education and the economy would be released in the next 12 months.

Speaking to media afterwards, Bridges said the "you" focus was not an attempt to take attention away from him.

"No. It's very much a contrast between a Government that does seem focused on whether it's being in Melbourne for a TED talk, whether it's being in the Pacific Islands (Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is visiting Tokelau) right now, rather than things that New Zealanders need to focus on."

He would not comment on speculation that his expected policy announcement tomorrow would be about supporting a National Cancer Agency.

Earlier this week at Parliament, Bridges presented a petition to Parliament from Southland dad Blair Vining, who is calling for an agency that would allow treatment standards to be set without political interference.

Bridges would not say at the time whether National would set up the agency.

His wife Natalie introduced her husband at the conference, saying that politics was a noble profession where people dedicated themselves to improve the lives of millions of people and praising her husband's sense of service.

She also made light of his accent, which was mocked in an attack ad this week from the Green Party, and made light of his description of Boris Johnson's "buffoon-like quality".

"He's got a bloody fantastic Kiwi accent. He's hilarious. He's witty. Sometimes he's a buffoon. He gets marmalade on his chin.

"He is a guy who thinks 'woke' is something you do after sleeping. He's not that interested in fads. He simply cares quite deeply about his country."

Bridges said afterwards that he wouldn't be threatened if he had been outshone by Natalie this morning.

"Natalie is just the most important person in my life ... a very talented woman, and to see her up here, I couldn't be more proud and, I suppose, humbled."

Senior MP Gerry Brownlee opened the conference, joking that when he was Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister, he was so against rebuilding the Town Hall that he swore if would never set foot in it if it was ever rebuilt.

He said that the Labour-led Government was like the building – "more of the same, but at enormous cost".