A newly prioritised spending plan and fresh ministerial line-up are part of Labour's plan to reset the political landscape for the start of 2023 - election year.

A newly prioritised spending plan and fresh ministerial line-up are part of Labour's plan to reset the political landscape for the start of 2023 - election year.

The political headwinds are significant: a cost-of-living crisis only set to worsen; waning support for the governing party and its high profile leader; the murky dynamics of disinformation and social disunity swirling below.

"You're right to characterise it as a challenging year," says Jacinda Ardern, settling into a chair looking out over the sunny backyard at Premier House in a suitably festive red Juliette Hogan trouser suit.

Listen to the full podcast

It's a sharp contrast to the year the prime minister is here to reflect on, and the troubling times New Zealanders are warned to expect over the next few years.

"I'm also reminded that politics has always been about solving problems ... either anticipated or unanticipated," she says, acknowledging the "difficult issues" 2022 has thrown up.

"Our focus, though, has been ... finding the solutions - as complex as they may be - and making sure we demonstrate to New Zealand that that's where our focus is."

Spending priority list - what to keep, what to scrap - to be sharpened over summer break

With the Covid pandemic dragging into a third year, there has also been the global sucker punch of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As the world tentatively was trying to find a way past Covid, it was hit with further political and economic shocks, more severe supply chain disruptions, and compounded cost of living pressures.

Labour has been trying to drive home the message those global events are the force behind much of the domestic challenges but they know as well as anyone it's the government voters look to for relief - or to blame.

The opposition has been gaining ground with relentless attacks about the cost of living, questioning the spending on projects like the health and polytechnic reforms, the proposed merger of RNZ and TVNZ, and - perhaps most controversial of all - the Three Waters infrastructure plan…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details