Chris Hipkins has officially taken the title of Prime Minister.
He was sworn in just after an emotional guard of honour for his departing mate Jacinda Ardern and then held his first Cabinet meeting. But afterwards, he had nothing tangible to offer the public.
By the stroke of a pen, a new Prime Minister was born. Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro appointed Chris Hipkins to the top job at a ceremony on Wednesday.
Proud as punch, Hipkins took it all in and gave a little wave to his family.
"This is the biggest privilege and responsibility of my life," he said.
It's the responsibility of leading a country alongside his deputy Carmel Sepuloni.
"It was an immensely proud moment for both of us," Hipkins said.
Hipkins gathered his Cabinet after they bid farewell to the old boss.
Symbolically dressed in exactly the same dress she wore when she found out she was going to become Prime Minister, Ardern left the building. Her colleagues were full of hugs, tears and applause for a leader they adored.
After all the ceremonial steps came a new picture of leadership.
"I did take a few moments to enjoy that occasion and reflect on the incredible privilege and responsibilities that come with this job, and then it was time to get on with it."
He revealed the three-R reset.
"Reprioritise, refresh and refocus the Government's work programme."
But getting on with it seems a slow process.
"You can expect more detail in coming weeks."
Until Chris Hipkins has shuffled his deck - he'll appoint ministers next week - he is stuck in policy paralysis.
"I have only been here for a couple of hours. I need to work through the options about what we do about that… I'm not going to start making announcements only a couple of hours into the job… I've only had the job a couple of hours so I think New Zealanders won't be expecting to hear a lot from me today."
In his introduction to the public, Hipkins has revealed he doesn't believe everyone is paying their fair share of tax.
Asked if he is going to completely reform New Zealand's tax system, Hipkins said he wouldn't announce tax policy on Wednesday.
"I'm not going to announce tax policy on day one."
He wouldn't say if he believes in a tax-free threshold, where wage earners get to keep every cent of every dollar they make, up to say $15,000.
"I'm not going to get into what is on the table or off the table or what might be a good idea or not."
Hipkins also wouldn't say whether he thinks Australia's top tax rate - 45 cents on anything over $180,000 - is too high.
"I'm not going to get into announcing or speculating on tax policy today, but good try."
Newshub tried to get to the bottom of what Cabinet actually discussed on Wednesday.
Asked what Cabinet did, Hipkins finished his press conference and walked off.
He left us wondering.
Jenna Lynch Analysis
So why didn't Hipkins have anything concrete to present?
It's a sequencing thing apparently. He wants his new team in place so the new ministers can own the reset and distance themselves from the Government of old.
For instance, a new Broadcasting Minister can more easily scrap the TVNZ/RNZ merger, new Local Government Minister can water down Three Waters as they're not so wedded to the projects.
Jacinda Ardern got the wheels turning on a policy reset but Newshub understands Chris Hipkins wants to take it further. What may have been a trimming under Ardern will become somewhat of a slashing under Hipkins.
But because of the built-up anticipation, the Government would not be wise to take their time on this. They've had the whole summer to mull it over. Hipklins has a moment to seize - he'd do well to get on with the policy purge.
