Chris Hipkins says at his first Cabinet meeting as prime minister he reiterated his expectation the reprioritisation work he signalled will be the government's absolute priority over the coming weeks.

Hipkins and incoming deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni were sworn in to their new roles, at a ceremony at Government House this morning.

"Today that work started in earnest and we had a good discussions about the next steps we'll be taking to reprioritise, refresh, and refocus the government's work programme so we can move our resources where we need to so that we can address the bread-and-butter issues that New Zealanders are most concerned about."

"I've already said publicly that we will be reining in some of our plans, putting them on a slower track, giving us more room to move and greater capacity to focus on the immediate priority issues facing New Zealand, particularly the cost-of-living pressures that have been caused by the global economic situation."

Today's unchanged inflation figure confirmed this is the right immediate focus for the government he leads, says Hipkins.

"The inflation level that we are seeing is not unexpected nor unusual, with many economies around the world feeling the same economic effects. We stack up pretty well against most of them with an inflation rate below the OECD average but regardless of where we sit compared to the rest of the world, here in New Zealand household budgets are being stretched and we do need to do as much as we can to help with that."

The government was doing its bit to address the underlying causes including at the petrol pump and the supermarket, and it was having an impact, says Hipkins.

"The Treasury is forecasting real government consumption will fall by about 8.2 percent over the next couple of years which they say indicates that fiscal policy is supporting monetary policy in dampening inflationary pressures - but there's more to do and the fight must and will continue."

Hipkins says his talks with businesses in Auckland tomorrow would be his first major engagement as prime minister, and one of the main topics he was expecting was the global shortage in workers.

Immigration settings were changed a month ago and it was too early to see the results yet "but we've already heard positive feedback about them from businesses".

The government would not stop there and woudld continue to make changes, he says.

Colleagues and family members watched as the process for replacing Jacinda Ardern was completed.

Hipkins says the swearing in this morning was an immensely proud moment for both himself, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni, and their families.

"I did take a few moments to reflect on that and reflect on the incredible privilege and the responsibilities that come with this job - and then it was time to get on with it."

The new prime minister has a hefty to-do list, with a ministerial reshuffle to be announced next week and a full policy reset.

Hipkins has signalled tackling the "inflation pandemic" will be a top priority for his Cabinet's slimmed-down work programme.

- RNZ.