An apology from Labour leader Phil Goff over questionable decisions made while his party was in power has not cut it with Prime Minister John Key.
At the Labour Party's conference in Rotorua at the weekend Mr Goff admitted some wrong decisions had cost it the election.
He appeared to be looking to turn a new leaf.
"We weren't voted out for what we did right," he said.
"We were voted out because they thought we were getting distracted by sideshows. The Winston Peters' funding saga. The Electoral Finance Act. Errant MPs. Smacking. Lightbulbs. Shower heads."
Appearing on TVNZ's Breakfast programme this morning, Mr Key appeared bemused about Mr Goff's comments.
"The Labour Party is missing the point if they think that just saying sorry is going to fix their problems -- I think it's much deeper set than that."
He said Labour had crushed any entrepreneurial spirit with the amount of red tape and bureaucracy it had piled on business people starting out, and in doing so had ruined a golden opportunity to strengthen New Zealand's economically.
Mr Goff talked about focusing on Labour's core values, which come down to a pledge to look after disadvantaged people and give everyone a fair go, but Mr Key said there was a lack of ideas.
"Where do they want to take New Zealand? I mean, if you really look at this conference, not one great idea came out of the conference..."
As far as Mr Goff's comments about working with National in certain areas, Mr Key said he took that as a positive.
He said the public often took the view that opposition parties always disagreed, but that was not the case.
Mr Goff also took a swipe at the National Government's approach to unemployment, and recent funding decisions.
"We don't agree with National that the best thing to do is sit on the sidelines and just 'blunt the sharp edges' of the recession," he said.
He said the Government had "got its priorities wrong" by slashing funding for night classes while it poured an extra $35 million into private education where people were already advantaged.
