KEY POINTS:
You can expect to hear a more bolshie political tone running through the normally staid annual Prime Minister's statement which will be delivered when Parliament resumes today.
Helen Clark will provide more meat than usual to flesh out the standard bare bones outline of the Government's programme as Labour tries to wrest back control of the political agenda from National's new leadership.
It is no secret Helen Clark has found the set piece speech which kicks off each parliamentary year a somewhat frustrating exercise.
She feels the format puts her at a disadvantage. She is required to give a general rundown of the year ahead. Given the scale of Government activity, a lot of things get only passing mention. There is little room for detail. The speech also inevitably tends to be rather antiseptic as she is naturally reluctant to give too much away too early. Media interest wanes quickly.
A platform to highlight policies goes begging.
A quirk in Parliament's rules requires copies of the speech be given to the other party leaders at 10am - four hours before delivery.
While depriving the Prime Minister of any element of surprise, the original intention of giving out early copies was that would lead to the statement actually being debated. Often as not, however, other leaders completely ignore it.
National leader John Key is likely instead to concentrate on attacking the Prime Minister, accusing her of a lack of accountability regarding her handling of Phillip Field and the failings of the Corrections Department. Helen Clark gets no opportunity to reply.
For these reasons, the Prime Minister's statement has been becoming increasingly political in tone - but will be much more so this year as Labour tries to counter the Opposition's claim it has run out of ideas while trying to shut Mr Key out of the limelight.
Helen Clark will try to blunt the impact of the latter by arguing "substance not slogans" is what really matters.
Her speech will announce fresh initiatives to back that up: legislative changes to allow fast-track recall of those on parole whose behaviour is causing concern, and setting targets for greater domestic production and use of biofuels.
The first is a classic example of a Government covering its back.
The second announcement, which will be reinforced with copious publicity material and a press conference hosted by Climate Change Minister David Parker, is all about illustrating Labour's "renewal" in policy terms.
With the Prime Minister having set an aspirational goal of New Zealand becoming carbon neutral, Labour is determined to make the running on climate change through the year and secure "ownership" of the issue well ahead of next year's election.
But Labour knows if the issue is going to work for it in the same way that the anti-nuclear policy did two decades ago the party has to start talking less in theoretical terms and start setting targets which people can see will make concrete progress towards the goal of carbon neutrality.
All of this will be incorporated in today's speech under an overarching theme of "sustainability". However, the speech is all about using the advantages of government incumbency to ensure Labour's sustainability in government.
