Listen: Jacinda Ardern responds to Simon Bridges' criticism

The National Party's new leader Simon Bridges wasted no time getting stuck in to the Government, labelling it "weak and muddling."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern seemed unfazed by the criticism when she spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay today, saying "it's certainly the role of the opposition to hold us to account, so I expect more of that critique rather than less."

However, Ardern hopes Bridges can put aside the criticism in the future and work together with her Government if the situation arises.

"There are sometimes opportunities where you switch from critique to actually saying 'oh this is actually something there shouldn't be politics in and we can both work on. I hope we still get a bit of that'."

Bridges has also said the Government will be bad for regional New Zealand. Ardern refutes this saying the billion-dollar funding is "without a doubt...going to be beneficial to regional New Zealand."

Also in today's interview - the Prime Minister talks about whether the plan to plant 1 billion trees will be on Landcorp properties that were previously for sale.