Jacinda Ardern addressed the hundreds of supporters who turned out for her first speech to the public, after being sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Jacinda Ardern breaks with tradition and addresses a crowd outside Parliament in her first speech as Prime Minister. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
"I want to start by saying it is an enormous privilege and an honour to stand with these people here today: in front of your house, with your government," she told the crowd.
"I want to put emphasis on today on the words 'your government'.
"This is a democracy, of course not everybody voted for us. But we vow, regardless of who you voted for, regardless of where in Aotearoa New Zealand you live, this will be a government for all New Zealanders."
Watch Jacinda Ardern speaks for first time as Prime Minister:
"We will be an active government, we will be a strong government, we will be an empathetic government, and we will be a government that works together.
"There is a lot that we need to do, all of us.
"I vow that as a government we will work with anyone who shares our values and our belief that NZ can be better, we will work with the business community, we will work with NGOs and community organisations, we'll work with Māori, we will work collaboratively to achieve the objectives we set out whether it be in our portfolios or as a team.
"We will work together and that work begins today."
"Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let's go and do this."
The newly sworn-in Prime Minister arrives at Parliament. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
In a standup with media after the speech on Parliament's steps, in lieu of the usual post-Cabinet press conference, she said she felt humbled and extraordinarily privileged at the turnout.
"That was really lovely, to arrive at Parliament and see the people who had taken time out of their day, time out of school, probably time out of work, to come and join us.
"It was lovely."
She said the Cabinet meeting this afternoon would be an induction for new ministers but it would also discuss cracking on with the government's 100-day plan.
The final version of the plan, including any changes, would be announced on Tuesday, and she was receiving advice as to whether it would need to include a mini-budget, she said.
She said she was in the process of setting up the structures of her new Child Poverty Reduction portfolio.
And she said Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade Minister David Parker, along with the existing negotiating team, would accompany her to APEC in Vietnam in November.
Swearing in ceremony held this morning
Yesterday, Ms Ardern revealed her ministerial line-up, which includes 21 Labour ministers, four from New Zealand First and three from the Green Party.
The new ministerial executive was sworn-in this morning at Government House.
National Party leader Bill English presented his resignation as Prime Minister to Governor-General Patsy Reddy but will continue as leader of the National Party.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Ms Ardern made a short statement.
Watch the livestream provided from Government House:
