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Politics
It may have led National to the second worst loss in its history, but Judith Collins insists she still enjoys the job. As part of a yearlong series of reviews, Collins spoke to the Newsroom about working with former leaders, policy plans, and listening to the country.
When Newsroom last sat down for an interview with Judith Collins, the newly anointed national leader had only been in office a month and was getting lyrical about her unexpected pleasures.
“I knew it would be extraordinarily busy, I’ve seen opposition leaders in the past and the level of work that is required and the hours that are required, but I didn’t realize it would be that much fun,” Collins gushed.
After a hard-hitting campaign in which Collins was unable to stop National’s downfall, the party dropped to just 25.6 percent of the vote and saw its caucus cut off by 23 MPs, a terrible result second only to the abysmal 2002 elections that they took her to Parliament.
Are you still having fun? Much, insists the deputy of Papakura.
“I’m definitely not a negative Nelly, I’m definitely a positive pixie, and I look at it and think well, you know, ‘wow, imagine I’m in that role …’
“I sleep very well at night, I hope I don’t show any stress because I don’t feel anything, I feel very relaxed.”
In a personal sense, 2020 was quite rewarding. Collins wrote his first book, Pull without bumps – “number one in the New Zealand bestseller [list] for six weeks straight, ”she adds happily, as her unexpected rise to the top of National was accompanied by a graduate degree in occupational health and safety for her and a diploma in software development for her son.
On the professional front, there’s no question how bad things turned out, as Collins assumed leadership under far-from-ideal circumstances.
“It was an opportunity to show character, too great an opportunity to show character in my opinion, but here we go. It’s hard. It was hard. It was physically very hard, very exhausting. And it was just, it was difficult. But you know, I didn’t die. “
“The hardest thing … was getting into a campaign that had already been prepared, already organized, third leader in four months, without any control over what was going to happen because we had a lot of organized public meetings that were going well, all of a sudden boom, there’s a crash coming again …
“It was an opportunity to show character, too great an opportunity to show character in my opinion, but here we go. It’s hard. It was hard. It was very hard physically, very exhausting. And it was just, it was difficult. But you know, I didn’t die. “
The mood within National’s small group is “as good as it could be under the circumstances,” he says, with the lack of resources offset by the greater opportunities offered to those who survived the election.
“There are some MPs who will surprise you in a very positive way, and I think sometimes people just need opportunities.”
Collins says she emphasizes letting caucus members “have a good turn and, at the same time, move on,” while she has repeatedly spoken about the importance of not thinking about the past.
However, in a recent interview with Magic talk, spoke about Simon Bridges’ poor internal numbers during his leadership reign and criticized successor Todd Muller’s decision to scrap the party’s political work when he took office.
That may seem unhelpful, to say the least, but Collins says it’s just blunt: “They were asking me questions and I answered honestly, and I guess it’s always been part of my style that if I can, I answer honestly.”
Having not just one, but two recent former leaders lurking behind you on the back benches may seem disconcerting, but she insists that’s not the case.
“In fact, they will often be the first people to say, ‘It’s easy to say x, but I know what it’s like to do that’ because they’ve been there.”
Shaking up the policy plans
That experience could be helpful as National takes stock and develops its plans for the next three years.
Collins has asked Senior MP Nick Smith to get back to work on developing the party’s policy, while she wants some bold new ideas, one of the reasons she created and took over the AI portfolio of technology, manufacturing and .
“We have to hold the Government to account and we can do it, I think we are doing a good job with it, but our great focus has to be on looking to the future in search of new and interesting [policies] and understand that we are not only going to recover all the politics that we did in the last period. “
He has also talked about ensuring that National is not an opponent for the good of the opposition, commitments also made, with minimal levels of success, by former opposition leaders Bridges and Andrew Little of the Labor Party.
“I think it’s important to understand that he’s called the Leader of the Opposition for a reason why in a democracy, you really need to have someone who doesn’t just say, ‘Well, if the Prime Minister said it, it must be correct.’ .
“Actually, there needs to be people who say, ‘Well, wait, let’s see this.’ But where there are areas where we can agree, then we will agree. “
She cites the reform of the Resource Management Act as an area in which National wishes to collaborate. While Labor has no need to build cross-party consensus given its parliamentary majority, Collins believes it is better for the country if potentially significant reforms can be guaranteed to support a shift in power.
“It is important for us to listen to what people are telling us and also to listen to people who obviously vote at the national level or who have voted at the national level in the past, but also to understand that we also have to be able to extend and embrace a modern vision of stuff.”
“My opinion is that the most sensible thing they can do is talk to us, so I don’t think people who are trying to build houses want governments to change the rules every five minutes.”
Climate change is also an area in which National may reconsider its approach, he says, with at least some evidence to suggest that the party is lagging behind the general public when it comes to the issue.
“That’s why I think it’s important for us to listen to what people are telling us and also to listen to people who obviously vote at the national level or who have voted at the national level in the past, but also understand that we also have to be able to reach out. and they encompass a modern view of things, so I’m very interested in us exploring that further. “
Three years may seem like a long time, she says, but the 2023 elections will come soon enough, and she is eager to lead the party towards them.
“I hope and obviously I would. I’ve been through an incredible election campaign, and you would have to say, could you think of worse circumstances? Quite difficult. I think it’s going to get better. “
For now, however, Collins is looking forward to the summer and the opportunity to work on his next book, potentially a thriller.
She has to hope there won’t be a novel in the National caucus room in 2021.
