The Prime Minister and National Party leader Christopher Luxon face off this afternoon in Parliament's first Question Time of the year. 

It comes as the latest poll shows steady support for the Government as it handles the current Omicron outbreak. 

The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll showed Labour up 1.6 points on the last poll in November to 44.3 per cent. 

National was up 4.4 points to 31.3 per cent in the first such poll under leader Christopher Luxon. 

Both rises came at the expense of Act, which dropped eight points to 8 per cent. 

Question Time is expected to begin at about 3pm with Luxon appointed the second question. 

He will ask a broad and generic question of the Prime Minister: "does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?" 

Ahead of Question Time party leaders mark the 70th jubilee of the Queen. 

The clash of the leaders of the country's two largest political parties comes after Parliament opened for the year on Tuesday. 

Ardern used her opening statement to Parliament to promise schools and early childhood centres will now only be closed as a "last resort" during Covid outbreaks. 

But she also warned that new variants of Covid-19 were expected this year, and the opening of the borders was likely to lead to influenza re-emerging, and it was time to "prepare for winter". 

Ardern set out her agenda for the year on the first day of Parliament under red light restrictions - meaning masks around Parliament and only half the full contingent of MPs in the debating chamber at any time. 

Luxon took aim at that Covid-19 management, saying although 2020 had been strong, 2021 had been a "shambles". 

He dedicated most of his speech to the economy and cost of living, point to the rising cost of petrol and groceries, the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia, and the steep increase in house prices. 

He also predicted that Labour would end up backing down on its Three Waters reforms, saying Finance Minister Grant Robertson would decide it was too unpopular to go ahead with. 

During their first Question Time face-off at the beginning of December Luxon pushed Ardern on why the Government's $50 billion Covid-19 fund has not significantly increased ICU capacity. 

Ardern countered by saying the Government's strategy had been to keep people out of ICU in the first place.