2020 Election: Judith Collins Under Pressure Over Policy March

By RNZ

The leader of the National Party, Judith Collins, faces internal criticism for political decisions that, at worst, are improvised and, at best, did not consult the party’s own spokesperson.

Collins is required to respond after a leaked email to Newshub showed Auckland National Council spokeswoman Denise Lee criticizing a policy announced today to review the Auckland Council.

Lee called it a “very troublesome idea,” a “nightmare,” and “another task force,” saying that ignoring it was “an incredibly poor way and shows a shockingly bad example of poor culture,” while another member The National Party said Collins was constantly “doing politics on the fly” and creating division.

Collins’ office said he was not available for an interview, but said the policy was one the campaign team had been working on “for several weeks.”

“I decided to post it during an interview on Newstalk ZB this morning, and as the leader of the National Party it is totally appropriate for me to make that call,” Collins said in a written response.

“I’ve spoken with Denise Lee about this. She, like all National MPs and candidates, is very focused on campaigning and spreading the word about National’s plan to create jobs and allow Kiwis to keep more than they earn through of tax cuts. “

Collins admitted to the media last week that his plan to prosecute companies that unfairly take advantage of the wage subsidy was improvised, and when asked if it would cause problems, he said the government can “do almost anything it wants if it has the right most”.

During the Newshub debate he had been asked if large companies that had benefited from the wage subsidy without paying it back should be prosecuted.

Labor leader Jacinda Ardern told debate moderator Patrick Gower that she thought it was morally wrong.

Collins agreed, saying they should return it, and went further, saying that he would try to get it back and that the party might have to change a law to do so.

“We may have to change a law. I thought we would have had a lot of support in Parliament to do it,” he said.

The next day, Business NZ criticized the measure as “wrong” and unnecessary, and the Council of Trade Unions cautioned that it was inappropriate and a form of retroactive tax.

Collins, having slept, also spoke about the difficulties it might pose and seemed to soften his posture.

“When I said ‘well, we would have to see how we could get it back’, well number one they would probably have a visit from me. That might help, with the media … otherwise we would have to look at how we could do it legislatively.

“It’s quite difficult to do something like that in hindsight, but, you know, sometimes you just have to think about how you can do it … I’d have to figure out how to do it … without unfairly affecting those people who have acted completely right.”

He also rejected the suggestion that such retroactive action would open up a can of legal trouble.

“Not really. Parliament can do almost anything it wants if you have the majority.”

That was far from the only political decision that appeared to have been made on the stage of the debate that night, with several other commitments made that had not appeared in official party policy documents.

He also vowed to investigate both Pharmac and Gloriavale, ditch the gun registry and match Labor’s commitment to free sanitary products in schools.

-RNZ