Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has used this week's post-Cabinet media briefing to introduce the government's plans to ramp up benefit sanctions.
The briefing came in the wake of Luxon's first State of the Nation address as prime minister, in which he warned the economy was in a "fragile" state.
The government was facing some tough choices to get spending under control, he said - a stance backed up by Finance Minister Nicola Willis on Morning Report today.
She said the government's books were in a "pretty bad shape" with big deficits and a huge amount of debt.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has rubbished the claims, saying National is exaggerating the country's economic woes as it attempts to wriggle out of its unaffordable tax cut promises.
At the weekend Luxon and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters also paid tribute to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died on Saturday.