Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed the text message Jacinda Ardern sent him when he travelled to Government House earlier on Wednesday.
Ardern formally tendered her resignation on Wednesday after she made the announcement last week she would be stepping down as Prime Minister.
As she was leaving Government House and Hipkins was arriving, he told The Project Ardern texted him, "Tag, you're it", to indicate he was the next Prime Minister.
When asked by The Project how he felt about the magnitude of swearing-in day, he said it was "phenomenal".
"I have to say, the visit to Government House, you kind of can't top that really."
He also said people referring to him as Prime Minister is still strange to him.
"I am still getting used to that," he said.
Hipkins was jokingly asked, now he's in the top job, if he would subsidise sunscreens because he is a ginger.
He didn't give a definitive answer, although he did say he remembered to wear sunscreen at Rātana on Tuesday afternoon.
"I was at Rātana yesterday and if there is one thing I learned about Rātana is that you have to cake yourself up with sunscreen," he said.
He said he learnt his lesson after "looking like a bit of a tomato" after Rātana one year.
"I didn't want my swearing-in at Government House marred by a whole lot of sunburn," he said.
Watch his interview on The Project above.
