At 7 am, she was all "The Government is under no obligation to pick up any of the recommendations coming forward from the conference ... the Government already has its own action plan ... the conference would fail if ... "
You get the general drift.
This was National Radio's flagship Morning Report after all, not noted for embracing the Auckland dimension.
My bet is the Prime Minister's full interview had included some positive messages - not just those which looked at the glass from a half empty perspective.
It was not a great omen.
When Helen Clark arrived to open the conference she had recovered her sang froid. The downbeat words had been scrubbed and she played to the audience's desire for an upbeat presentation.
New Zealand's "drive downward relative to others" could not be ignored.
The Government had a key role in addressing the situation. It would look to use the power of the conference's "collective mind" to propose ways to greater economic and social wealth.
These were words the 450 New Zealanders present - academics, business people, politicians, unionists, and community representatives - wanted to hear.
They wanted some recognition from the Government that they could play a part in the turnaround of their country and that their desire to get on board would meet a positive response.
The Who's Who of New Zealand, assembled by the University of Auckland, were on board for some evangelical messages, and there were plenty of those, particularly from expatriate Jilly Evans, whose plan to invite the Kiwi diaspora back for hangis in the Beehive's banquet hall was quickly endorsed by the PM.
Turning New Zealand's economic performance around is a challenge.
But powerful words by historian James Belich and former Judge Mick Brown provided reminders that New Zealanders have addressed big challenges before, and evoked a sense of possibility.
Rick Christie's draft innovation report urging that New Zealand become a virtual nation was a useful discussion document. The most powerful suggestion, that the Government adopt an NZ Inc approach and get the Treasury to take an investment approach to Budget expenditure is long overdue.
But interspersed with the optimistic speeches were some acute messages: corporate tax rates played a part in national wealth; the young were internationally mobile and countries such as New Zealand were in danger of being fossilised if they did not shift mindsets; foreign investment could only do so much, New Zealand had to build its own institutions.
Day One was essentially a cheer-leading exercise, the warmup period to get everyone on board for the hard yards. There was plenty of bonhomie flowing.
Today the conference gets down to those hard yards, examining the policies needed to get the economic growth to achieve the PM's ambition of getting New Zealand back into the top half of the OECD.
How Helen Clark and her Government react to the proposals by Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash on these tough questions will be the ultimate test.
Other Herald features
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The jobs challenge
Common core values
