Election 2020: Judith Collins determined to remain leader if National does not win

Judith Collins is determined to remain the leader of National even if the party fails to seize power in the elections.

“Yes, I’ll stay,” he told reporters today after being asked about his post-election plan if National was unsuccessful.

Collins spent this morning on a walk in the luxurious Auckland suburb of Ponsonby with Auckland Central candidate Emma Mellow.

The national leader returned to the Super City from Christchurch this morning after The Press leaders’ debate last night where Collins and Ardern had memorable exchanges on the price of milk, respect for Samoa and comments on each other’s tax plans. .

There was a particularly intense exchange on climate change and agriculture, where Collins praised the importance of the agricultural sector to the export economy.

“Get this: There is no free lunch for us in this world. We are a small country that has to fight for every trade deal,” Collins said.

“We have to wake up … we have to pay for health, we have to pay for education.”

Ardern replied that farmers were already participating in the climate change conversation, making New Zealand a world leader despite the country’s relatively small contribution to global emissions.

“Unless we move forward on this, we will fall behind and lose our brand. The dairy industry is doing well … as we work together on these environmental issues.

“It’s a sad day when we give up our reputation for being clean and green,” Ardern said.

It was the couple’s third debate and the first time Ardern was declared the winner.

Collins told The AM Show this morning that he thought he “did well in the debate” and said Ardern had more energy than he had in his previous debates.

“This time he realized he was supposed to be in the competition. I thought it was a great debate and it felt really good at the end. In fact, I felt quite energized at the end of it all.

“I thought I did well and I thought she did a better job than before.”

Collins has come under fire this week after Maungakiekie MP Denise Lee sent an email, which was later leaked, to her caucus colleagues questioning why she remained in the dark about a policy to review the Auckland Council.

Collins this morning said he “had taken care of that” and said Lee’s actions were “a little funny behavior.”

“It is important that you know, in the campaigns, certainly with the campaigns in which I have been involved, the leader and the leadership team, also the campaign team, have to make decisions.

“Those decisions are made and [they don’t] Always include people who have been particularly involved in the areas, especially if it is not the decision that person might have wanted. We just go ahead and get the job done. “