The swearing-in ceremony for incoming Prime Minister Hon. Chris Hipkins and incoming Deputy Prime Minister Hon Carmel Sepuloni.
Housing, children’s health, poverty, crime rates and the cost of living were top of locals’ minds as Chris Hipkins officially became New Zealand’s 41st Prime Minister.
Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni were sworn in by Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro at Government House in a ceremony yesterday.
Hipkins saidthe role was the “biggest responsibility of my life” and he and Sepuloni took it very seriously.
“It feels pretty real now,” Hipkins told reporters after the ceremony.
As the Governor-General signed the document appointing Hipkins as Prime Minister, people on the streets of Rotorua weighed in with their wishlists for his time in office.
“Homelessness and child poverty should be top of the list.”
Wehipeihana said she also hoped Hipkins would prioritise initiatives that supported sustainability, such as composting systems for schools.
Rotorua mum Jo Hepa said she didn’t think Hipkins was the best choice for Prime Minister, but while he had the job, she hoped he would focus on housing.
“Children’s health is another thing,” Hepa said.
“There’s not enough social services available for children under 14, and that’s when they really need the help.”
Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post on Tutanekai St, retiree and Taupō resident Brent Keightley said he hoped the new Prime Minister would “focus on what was really important”.
“People are suffering,” Keightley said.
Referring to the cost of living crisis, Keightley said one of the issues he wanted to be prioritised was the cost of food.
“What [Hipkins] is saying is right, but whether or not he can do it is the main thing.
“It’s not just him, but the caucus who need to agree to get all that done.”
On Hinemoa St, mum Letitia Dunlop from Auckland told the Rotorua Daily Post that lowering the crime rate was at the top of her wishlist for the new Prime Minister.
“The ram-raids are terrible.”
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.
Hipkins was sworn in after Jacinda Ardern left the Beehive for the final time as Prime Minister, greeted by a huge crowd on the parliamentary forecourt that erupted into loud cheers.
