It took less than two hours for the Labour Party to change the face it presents to voters in the general election, now just 52 days away.
Jacinda Ardern in her first media conference as Labour Party leader. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
New leader Jacinda Ardern now has a tough road ahead with just seven and a half weeks to turn her party's fortunes around.
That will include preparing herself for the rough and tumble of an election campaign and for the live one-on-one debates with the Prime Minister Bill English.
The party machine has a lot of work to do behind the scenes, now Ms Ardern has taken over from Andrew Little.
Campaign manager Andrew Kirton was confident the party had enough money to rebrand and change all its billboards.
"She wants to stamp her mark on the campaign. That's absolutely appropriate - we just need to discuss what that looks like.
"When we put the call out to the party, the party always responds. They bring hammers, they bring their walking shoes and they bring their voices and their money."
Prime Minister Bill English was somewhat bemused Labour had changed leader so close to an election.
"It generally shows the lack of a positive view of New Zealand and a lack of policy ideas to execute that. But those are their problems - they have to go to the electorate with a new leader just two months out from the election. We're focused on lifting our support, not on the Labour Party."
United Future leader Peter Dunne said he did not envy the position Ms Ardern was in.
"I think it's going to be too big for any human being to turn the fate of the Labour Party around in eight weeks, but good on her for stepping up to the task.
"I thought Andrew Little was probably right to make the call he did, but I think Labour has just made its mountain of winning the election just that much higher."
37-year-old prime minister not 'credible'
ACT leader, David Seymour, was dismissive of Ms Ardern's abilities to lead.
"She's had all the plum positions, asked all the questions in Parliament for the last eight years - it's hard to think of a major achievement. And I just don't think it's credible to have a 37-year-old prime minister in coalition with Metiria Turei and Winston Peters."
Ms Ardern said she had no concern about her ability to deal with Mr Peters, saying she used to be the president of an international youth organisation that had members from Lebanon, Palestine and Israel.
Senior Labour MP Trevor Mallard said the party's chances of getting into government had improved significantly.
He said Ms Ardern had the policy depth of Helen Clark and the wit of David Lange.
"She's fiercely intelligent, very much like Helen Clark in that way but I think she's also got the advantage of youth and vibe and an ability to connect.
"I think she's got the potential to take at least 10 points out of National on some of their current polling."
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell was optimistic about building a relationship with Ms Ardern but was not sure a new leader meant a new Labour Party.
"All we might be doing is shifting the deck chairs, changing people, but the waka is still the same."
