KEY POINTS:
John Key is nothing if not ambitious for his Government. He has set a cracking pace so far as Prime Minister. But has he also been too brave, even foolhardy, in effectively defining the measure by which his Government will be judged a success or not as economic growth - especially when the economy is mired in deepening recession?
Yesterday's Speech from the Throne, setting out the new Government's broad policy objectives and legislative programme, contains no less than nine references to economic growth being the driver of the Key Administration - or words to that effect.
Key sensibly did not specify any percentages or exact targets for desired growth over the next three years, mind you.
Still, the speech talks about economic growth which delivers higher incomes, well-paid jobs, better living conditions, larger superannuation payments and so forth. So National, as much for the sake of face, has to achieve more than the 3 to 4 per cent averaged by Labour during its nine
years in power.
It's a big call - one that Key acknowledged during Parliament's address-in-reply debate. New Zealand, he told the House, faced the most difficult economic conditions in a generation, if not a lifetime.
But Key's big call is one to which Labour intends holding him to account. Instead of moving the standard Opposition no confidence motion, Labour leader Phil Goff put up an amendment to the debate's main motion, adding a list of expectations National had raised during its campaign - such as closing the wage gap with Australia, increased investment in
infrastructure, extending carbon fibre telecommunications to most homes, fewer people on working age benefits, lower greenhouse gas
emissions and reduced waiting times for elective surgery.
It was a clever tactical move. National MPs taunted Goff that Labour
had nine years to achieve those goals. But National can hardly vote the
amendment down when it is debated. Goff is thus setting the targets Key must meet.
Labour's other gambit is to repeatedly declare that it left the economy well-placed to cope with recession, especially in terms of reducing debt to low levels. By repeating this "legacy" - as Goff called it - Labour
obviously hopes it will become the accepted popular wisdom.
Goff's first speech as Leader of the Opposition was greeted by applause from colleagues and a peck on the cheek from Helen Clark - symbolic of Labour's smooth transition from one leader to another.
This was the cue for Key, who was next up, to claim that Goff's leadership was seen as so transitional in some quarters of the Labour
caucus that he was becoming known as "Phil-in". "Out with the old and in
with the old," Key jousted, referring to how long Goff had spent in Parliament waiting to become leader.
Parliament's oldest MP, Jim Anderton, got the last word, however. He said he would be the first to congratulate Key if he delivered on the
expectations that National had raised in Opposition. But somehow he doubted he would have to do so.