Jacinda Ardern has left the Beehive for the final time as Prime Minister, greeted by a huge crowd on Parliament’s forecourt that erupted into loud cheers.
Ardern hugged each member of her caucus who lined up to see her off. She was joined by her partner Clarke Gayford.
Colleagues farewelled her with gratitude, many visibly emotional.
“I can’t actually see where the car is,” said Ardern as she moved through the crowd, many being staff who’d worked with her.
MPs and ministers under Ardern’s nearly two terms in the top job were visibly emotional as they said one final goodbye, many with tears welling in their eyes.
Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said it was “mixed emotions” seeing Ardern, a good friend, depart.
“This is definitely the end of one chapter and the beginning of another and so I am excited for Chris and Carmel. It’s a big day for them.
“But also reflecting on an amazing period of time working with my friend.”
Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis said it was “a little sad” but he was happy Ardern would “get her life back”.
“Her courage, her stamina, her wit - she was so sharp. She had such a broad knowledge of every issue. I was quite in awe of her. In my time in education and my time of politics I have never seen a leader like her.”
Davis said the caucus and Cabinet were now switched back into Government mode and getting behind Hipkins and Sepuloni.
Davis, Māori-Crown Relations Minister, said he thought Hipkins had been received well yesterday at Rātana, the first test in front of a Māori audience, albeit a Labour-friendly one.
“His speech went down well, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback.”
Former Labour leader Andrew Little, who handed over the role to Ardern in 2017 paving the way for her to become prime minister, said Ardern was a “political phenomenon”.
“We offer her a huge debt of gratitude for her stepping up in the way she did. It was a huge privilege to serve with her during that time.”
He said it was a surprise but he understood the decision given how “exhausted” everyone was at the end of last year and what she had led the country through.
Ardern this morning travelled to Government House for a private audience with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro where she will formally resign as Prime Minister - bringing an end to her time at the top.
She’ll leave Government House shortly after.
A little over an hour later, ministers Chris Hipkins and Carmel Sepuloni will make the same journey.
They too will have an audience with Kiro, but it will be public - not private (very public - it will be livestreamed on nzherald.co.nz). Kiro will swear them in as the new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
In the case of Sepuloni, it will make official her status as New Zealand’s first Pacific Deputy Prime Minister.
Hipkins and Sepuloni will not linger at Government House. Instead, they will return to the Beehive where Hipkins will chair his first Cabinet meeting. His first post-Cabinet press conference is expected at 3.30pm.
Speaking at Rātana on Tuesday, Hipkins spoke of the emotions of becoming Prime Minister.
“There are moments where it sinks in and there are moments where it still doesn’t quite feel real,” he said.
Ardern had her final formal public engagement as Prime Minister on Tuesday, travelling to Rātana with Hipkins for the annual celebration of the birthday of Rātana church founder T.W. Rātana. The day is a significant fixture for all politicians, but particularly for the Labour Party, which has an historic relationship with the church.
She travelled to Rātana in the same van as Hipkins, where the pair spoke for two hours.
While Hipkins would not be drawn on the advice, Ardern joked that there were “two hours of reckons”.
“Probably the most important advice I gave him was ‘you do you’.”
Hipkins has two big items on the agenda for his first week in the job. The first is what he has described as the “reining in” of the Government’s agenda.
This will pick up an effort begun by Ardern last year to run a ruler over the Government’s work programme with a view to axing unpopular and extraneous policies and focusing on a more narrow cost-of-living agenda.
This discussion will begin on Wednesday, but final decisions of what to cull will probably not be made until next week. Cabinet will need to formally resolve to end work on certain policies.
Hipkins’ other major task is to reshuffle his Cabinet. It is likely the axing of policies and the new Cabinet will be announced at the same time.
Ardern said she did not see the streamlining of the work programme as a repudiation of her time in office.
“Not at all.”
Ardern leaves office at a time when there is greater awareness of the security threats she has faced as Prime Minister.
There has been public discussion about whether she should be afforded ongoing police protection, given these threats.
Such a decision would be made by the police, not ministers.
National leader Christopher Luxon said he would support that move.
“I’d be very supportive of that.
“I’ve observed when I see political leaders around the world. I even observe former prime ministers of New Zealand. I think there’s a period of time for which that is entirely appropriate.”
Ardern in her final speech yesterday said the negative comments towards her were not what she’d remember.
“For my part I want you to know that my overwhelming experience in this job has been one of love, empathy and kindness” - a nod to the abuse many had attributed to her departure from the job.
“That is what the majority of New Zealand has shown to me.”
Many of her colleagues spoken to said they were however still concerned about the abuse directed towards Ardern, much of it gendered.
Robertson said the vast bulk of New Zealand was supportive and whoever the government was were “good people who show kindness”.
“There is, however, a very small group in our society, who hold extreme views.”
He said he feared some people would be put off politics as a result.
“I believe it to be something that we need good people, well-motivated people prepared to commit chunks of their life to it.
“So I’m going to do everything I can to support people to come into politics. But the reality is the environment we’re in, and this is global, is more toxic.”
Little said there was a “very, very toxic element” to some of the current discourse on social media.
“Of course, there are going to be issues that are more robustly debated than others. But we’ve got to be able to do that respectfully.”
He referred to comments from colleague Davis at Rātana yesterday, saying men had to step up to call it out.
“It has been obvious for a long time, you know, women cop a lot more in terms of the really toxic nasty stuff than men.
“And I think it’s the job of all of us, it’s for men to step up and start calling it out.”
David Seymour dismissed criticism of his social media posts as playful fun.
