Politics

Watch: Prime Minister's 100-day speech

19:16 pm on 31 January 2018

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has delivered a speech outlining her government's progress in the first 100 days.

Ms Ardern, after a prayer and a karakia, emphasised her desire for a stronger, fairer kinder New Zealand.

"The 100 day plan was a kickstart, it looked to rectify wrongs and policy imbalances.

"The next step is to carefully see them through with equal urgency. It was not an exhaustive list."

She said "we need to move beyond the branding" to genuinely become a clean, green, carbon-free country.

"We are facing some significant challenges, some of which we have not seen politicians in the past speak openly about, like our growing prison population, the high rates of Māori imprisonment.

"We are members of a Pacific community under threat due to rising sea levels.

"We must be a government that is ... accessible."

She also spoke about the government's plan to halve child poverty in 10 years.

Under the Child Poverty Reduction Bill introduced yesterday, governments will have to set three-year and 10-year targets and report on progress in every Budget.

Ms Ardern and top government ministers then took questions from the public.