Bill English bullish about Nats' re-election

Bill English. Photo / Doug Sherring

Finance Minister Bill English believes National will romp home for a third term.

Addressing about 500 delegates at the National Party's northern regional convention in Auckland yesterday, the Finance Minister spoke of the confidence New Zealanders had in the Prime Minister and the country.

Fresh from delivering a "zero Budget" - labelled a "zero-hope budget" by Labour - English spoke of four vital points which would ensure the party was victorious in the 2014 election.

The first was to maintain public trust by continuing to deliver on the party's promises and not bringing in unexpected large-scale changes.

He said the public had learned to trust the instincts of Prime Minister John Key.

"Because they trust his instincts, they trust the Government to maintain support for the most vulnerable, to ensure that the necessary changes we need to make are going to be fair to all New Zealanders. We need to stick to that."

Second was a need to maintain a "relentless focus on the economy and everything that we can realistically do to improve growth". He said the public understood that economic growth came down to realistic graft, not borrowing.

His third point was about getting good results from the public service. English said one of the striking aspects of reaction to Thursday's "sensible budget in uncertain times"was that many of the usually vociferous public-service groups had been "remarkably absent" from political discussion.

"They're not complaining. And the reason is that they've come to believe that the current Government wants to get results for our long-running social problems, not just wring our hands talk about them."

Finally, he said, the party needed to continue to have "confidence in New Zealand".

He said John Key was the best Prime Minister in a generation at articulating that confidence.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the convention, but did not disrupt English's speech.