Judith Collins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Honourable Judith Collins KC MP
Collins in 2023
34th Attorney-General of New Zealand
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	David Parker
43rd Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Andrew Little
Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Andrew Little
Minister Responsible for the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Andrew Little
3rd Minister for Digitising Government
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Ginny Andersen
1st Minister for Space
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Office established
22nd Minister for the Public Service
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 January 2025
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Nicola Willis
28th Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology
In office 27 November 2023 – 24 January 2025
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Ayesha Verrall
Succeeded by	Shane Reti
Offices held in Opposition 2020–2021 39th Leader of the Opposition In office 14 July 2020 – 25 November 2021 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Deputy Gerry Brownlee Shane Reti Preceded by Todd Muller Succeeded by Christopher Luxon 14th Leader of the National Party In office 14 July 2020 – 25 November 2021 Deputy Gerry Brownlee Shane Reti Preceded by Todd Muller Succeeded by Christopher Luxon
Ministerial Offices 2008–2017 29th Minister of Revenue In office 20 December 2016 – 26 October 2017 Prime Minister Bill English Preceded by Michael Woodhouse Succeeded by Stuart Nash 16th Minister of Energy and Resources In office 20 December 2016 – 26 October 2017 Prime Minister Bill English Preceded by Simon Bridges Succeeded by Megan Woods Minister for Ethnic Affairs In office 20 December 2016 – 26 October 2017 Prime Minister Bill English Preceded by Sam Lotu-Iiga Succeeded by Jenny Salesa In office 14 December 2011 – 30 August 2014 Prime Minister John Key Preceded by Hekia Parata Succeeded by Sam Lotu-Iiga 35th Minister of Police In office 14 December 2015 – 20 December 2016 Prime Minister John Key Bill English Preceded by Michael Woodhouse Succeeded by Paula Bennett In office 19 November 2008 – 12 December 2011 Prime Minister John Key Preceded by Annette King Succeeded by Anne Tolley 10th Minister of Corrections In office 14 December 2015 – 20 December 2016 Prime Minister John Key Bill English Preceded by Sam Lotu-Iiga Succeeded by Louise Upston In office 19 November 2008 – 12 December 2011 Prime Minister John Key Preceded by Phil Goff Succeeded by Anne Tolley 47th Minister of Justice In office 12 December 2011 – 30 August 2014 Prime Minister John Key Preceded by Simon Power Succeeded by Amy Adams
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Papakura
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 November 2008
Preceded by	John Robertson (1996)
Majority	13,519
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Clevedon
In office 27 July 2002 – 8 November 2008
Preceded by	Warren Kyd (1996)
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Majority	12,871 (34.9%)
Personal details
Born	Judith Anne Collins (1959-02-24) 24 February 1959 (age 66) Hamilton, New Zealand
Political party	National Party (1999–present)
Spouse	David Wong-Tung
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Canterbury (LLB) University of Auckland (LLM) (MTaxS)
Signature

Judith Anne Collins KC MP (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. Collins has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Papakura since 2008 and was MP for Clevedon from 2002 to 2008.

Born in Hamilton, Collins studied at Matamata College, the University of Canterbury and University of Auckland. Before entering politics, she worked as a commercial lawyer and was President of the Auckland District Law Society and Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society. She was a solicitor for four different firms from 1981 and 1990, before running her own practice for a decade. She was a director of Housing New Zealand from 1999 to 2001 and worked as special counsel for Minter Ellison Rudd Watts from 2000 to 2002 before she entered Parliament at the 2002 election.

Collins was appointed to the Cabinet by Prime Minister John Key when the National Party entered government at the 2008 election. She was ranked fifth in the Cabinet and the highest-ranked woman. Collins served as minister of police and minister of corrections from 2008 to 2011 and 2015 to 2016. After the 2011 election, she was appointed minister of justice and minister for the ACC. In August 2014 Collins was compelled to resign following email leaks alleging she had undermined the head of the Serious Fraud Office whilst she was police minister. While she was not cleared of wrongdoing related to that incident, she returned to the Cabinet in 2015. Collins served under Prime Minister Bill English as minister of revenue and minister of energy and resources from 2016 to 2017.

After the National Party left government in the 2017 election, Collins served in several shadow portfolios. She was elected to succeed Todd Muller as National Party leader by the parliamentary caucus on 14 July 2020, becoming leader of the Opposition. She was the second female leader of the National Party, after Jenny Shipley. She led the party to its second-worst defeat in the party's history at the 2020 election, losing 23 seats. Collins was removed as leader of the National Party by its caucus on 25 November 2021, the day after she suddenly demoted Simon Bridges, a political rival, for allegations of making a since-resolved inappropriate comment in 2017. Following National's victory in the 2023 election, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appointed Collins to Cabinet; she holds seven ministerial posts.

As the current longest continuously serving female MP, Collins is considered the Mother of the House.

Early life and career

Collins was born in Hamilton. Her parents were dairy farmers Percy and Jessie Collins of Walton in the Waikato and she was the youngest of six children. She was educated at Walton School, Matamata Intermediate and Matamata College. In 1977 and 1978, she studied at the University of Canterbury. In 1979, she switched to the University of Auckland, and obtained first a Bachelor of Laws degree and then Master of Laws (Hons) and later Master of Taxation Studies (MTaxS) degrees. In 2020, she graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety from Massey University. She met her husband, Chinese-Samoan David Wong-Tung, at university. He was then a police officer and had migrated from Samoa as a child. They have one son. Collins has described herself as a liberal Anglican.

Collins was a Labour Party supporter from childhood, but by 2002 had been a member of the National Party for three years. She has been a member of Zonta International and of Rotary International.

Professional career

After leaving university, she worked as a lawyer, specialising in employment, property, commercial, and tax law. She worked as a solicitor for four different firms between 1981 and 1990 and then became principal of her own firm, Judith Collins & Associates (1990–2000). In the last two years before the election to Parliament, she worked as special counsel for Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (2000–2002).

She was active in legal associations, and was President of the Auckland District Law Society (1998–1999) and Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society (1999–2000). She served as chairperson of the Casino Control Authority (1999–2002) and was a director of Housing New Zealand Limited (1999–2001).

Early parliamentary career (2002–2008)

Collins was elected to Parliament in the 2002 election as the National MP for Clevedon. Although technically a new electorate, Clevedon was largely based on the old Hunua electorate, held by National's Warren Kyd.

In Parliament, Collins became National's Associate Spokesperson on Health and Spokesperson on Internal Affairs. In 2003, these responsibilities were changed for those of Associate Spokesperson on Justice and Spokesperson on Tourism. She was generally regarded as having performed well and when Katherine Rich refused to give full support to the controversial Orewa Speech by then-party leader Don Brash, Rich was demoted in February 2005 and Collins became National's spokesperson on Social Welfare instead. Collins then served as spokesperson on Family and spokesperson on Pacific Island Affairs.

In 2003, while in opposition, Collins campaigned for an inquiry to find out whether New Zealand troops were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and if so any effect this subsequently had. Despite previous inquiries stating otherwise, the committee established that troops were exposed to defoliant chemicals during their service in Vietnam, and therefore operated in a toxic environment. This resulted in an apology in 2004 from the Labour-led Government to Veterans and the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support veterans. In 2004 Collins was awarded the Ex-Vietnam Services Association Pin for campaigning for the inquiry.

Collins's Clevedon electorate disappeared under boundary changes for the 2008 election. She originally announced her intention to seek the National Party nomination for Howick, which comprises the urban part of her former Clevedon electorate. However, following objections made to the Electoral Commission over draft changes to the boundaries that saw a major redrawing of the adjacent constituency Pakuranga, the draft Howick was redrawn and renamed Botany. Collins then sought and won the nomination for Papakura (which comprises the other half of her former Clevedon electorate) and allowed her colleague National Party MP Pansy Wong to seek nomination for Botany. Collins won Papakura with a majority of more than 10,000 votes.

Fifth National Government (2008–2017)

The National Party formed a government after the 2008 election, and Collins entered Cabinet with the portfolios of Police, Corrections and Veterans' Affairs. Early in 2009, she was created Minister Responsible for the Serious Fraud Office.

After the 2011 election she was appointed Minister of Justice, Minister of Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and Minister of Ethnic Affairs and, with a Cabinet ranking of five, was the highest ranked woman.

Minister of Corrections

Collins at the National War Memorial, 2010

In 2009, Collins questioned the leadership of, and later refused to express confidence in, Department of Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews, after a spate of bad publicity. However, after an enquiry by the State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie, Matthews kept his job because Corrections had made efforts to improve and had warned the government of the day and the previous government that under-resourcing was putting public safety at risk.

Collins increased the availability of work programmes in prison. Corrections built three new Drug Treatment Units and introducing condensed treatment programmes for prisoners serving shorter sentences. Collins oversaw completion of a new prison in Mount Eden, Auckland, and instigated the private management contract for the new prison to British company Serco, on the recommendation of the Department of Corrections. This was the first prison since 2005 to be managed by a private sector contractor.

Minister of Police

Following a police trial of tasers in 2006–07, Collins supported their introduction by then Police Commissioner Howard Broad. In the 2009 budget she announced NZ$10 million worth of funding to complete a nationwide taser roll-out to all police districts, and since then has advocated that the police be given further discretion about when they can equip themselves with tasers. She has also supported increased access to firearms for frontline officers, by equipping all front-line police vehicles with lock boxes for firearms, but does not support the full-time general arming of police officers.

During her early years in parliament, Collins developed a reputation for tough talking and in 2009 was nicknamed "Crusher Collins" when she proposed legislation to 'crush' the cars of persistent boy racers. Collins described herself as the minister "who brought back deterrence".

Minister of Justice

In 2012, Collins moderated the cuts-back to legal aid begun by her predecessor, Simon Power. She reduced the charges for family and civil cases, delayed the period before interest is charged on outstanding legal aid debt and dropped a proposal to make it harder to get legal aid for less serious crimes such as theft, assault or careless driving. She did however retain fixed fees for criminal work and the rotation of the legal aid to lawyers in all but the most serious cases, which attracted criticism from some lawyers.

In December 2012, Collins revealed she had concerns about the robustness of a report authored by retired Canadian Supreme Court judge Ian Binnie, which recommended that David Bain should be paid compensation for the 13 years he spent in prison before being acquitted at retrial in 2009. The report had been presented to Collins on 31 August 2012, but the dispute only became public after Binnie threatened to release the report on his own. Collins had provided a copy of the report to the police and the Solicitor-General and ordered a peer review by former New Zealand High Court judge Robert Fisher, sending a "34-point list of issues attacking the case" along with her letter of instruction. She did not provide a copy of Binnie's report to Bain's legal team. This fact, combined with the circumstances around the peer review by Fisher, led to accusations from Bain's team and from Justice Binnie that Collins was not following an "even handed process". Collins subsequently released the reports publicly. A month later, Bain filed a claim in the High Court seeking a review of Collins's actions. The claim alleged Collins breached natural justice and the Bill of Rights Act in her treatment of him and that she "acted in bad faith, abused her power, and acted in a biased, unreasonable and predetermined manner".

Minister for ACC

In August 2011, a significant privacy breach occurred at the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) following the accidental release of 6700 claimants' details to ACC claimant, Bronwyn Pullar. Following the breach, Collins wanted a change in the culture at ACC to make "privacy and information security" the most important focus. As part of these changes the board chair, John Judge, did not have his tenure on the board renewed, and the chief executive Ralph Stewart resigned the next day. In May 2012, Collins sued Labour MPs Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little for defamation over comments they made on Radio New Zealand linking her to the leak of an e-mail from Michelle Boag about Pullar's case. The case was settled after a High Court hearing in November 2012.

2016 leadership campaign and aftermath

Collins in 2016

John Key announced his resignation as leader of the National Party on 5 December 2016. The following day, Collins announced her intention to stand as his replacement, which would have elevated her to the prime ministership. The other candidates were Bill English and Jonathan Coleman. On 8 December, both Collins and Coleman withdrew as candidates, allowing English to be elected unopposed.

On 20 December 2016, she was officially sworn in as a minister with new portfolios in the new Bill English cabinet. She dropped in cabinet rank but was made Minister of Revenue, Minister of Energy and Resources, and Minister for Ethnic Communities. The corrections and police portfolios were given to Louise Upston and Paula Bennett, respectively.

Opposition (2017–2023)

2018 leadership campaign

Bill English announced his resignation as leader of the National Party on 13 February 2018. The following day, Collins became the first person to announce their intention to stand as his replacement; she was later joined by Amy Adams and Simon Bridges. She cited the need for "strong and decisive leadership". Collins was endorsed by former National leader Don Brash, and political commentators Duncan Garner, Mike Hosking, Cameron Slater, and Chris Trotter. Hosking later retracted his endorsement when Steven Joyce announced his candidacy. Bridges went on to win the leadership role.

In late May 2018, Collins, in her capacity as Opposition Transport spokesperson, raised the matter that Transport Minister Phil Twyford had made an unauthorised phone call while his flight had taken off; a violation of national civil aviation laws. In response, Twyford offered to resign as Transport Minister. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stripped Twyford of his civil aviation portfolio but retained him as Transport Minister.

2020 leadership campaign

On 14 July 2020, Collins was elected as leader of the National Party following a leadership election held following the abrupt resignation of Todd Muller earlier that day. Gerry Brownlee was also elected as Deputy Leader of the National Party.

She became the second female leader of the National Party.

Collins faced criticism during her campaign for being out of touch with common New Zealanders after she severely underestimated the price of a block of cheese after being asked how much it cost during an interview.

Leader of the Opposition (2020–2021)

Collins led the party to the 2020 election as significant underdogs, with opinion polls suggesting historically large swings to the Labour Party, reflecting its well-received response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Collins, although more popular than her predecessors Todd Muller and Simon Bridges, still significantly lagged behind Jacinda Ardern as preferred prime minister by 30 to 40 points.

Ultimately, the 2020 election saw a massive Labour landslide, with the party winning 65 seats, enough to form a majority government in its own right. Meanwhile, Collins led the National Party to a crushing defeat, suffering a 18.9% swing against them, and a 23 seat drop; finishing with 33 seats. The result was the second-worst defeat the National Party had ever suffered, edged out by the 2002 disaster, where the party won an even grimmer number of 27 seats. The election even saw the party's Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee lose his own seat of Ilam, which was considered National heartland.

With the result beyond doubt, a near-tearful Collins announced on election night that she had telephoned Ardern and conceded defeat, but vowed that the party would bounce back stronger in the next election. Despite these setbacks, Collins retained her electorate seat in Papakura by a final margin of 5,583 votes.

In early February 2021, Collins confirmed that the National Party would be standing candidates in the Māori electorates, reversing the party's policy of not contesting those seats. As Leader of the Opposition, Collins has opposed alleged policies of "racist separatism" towards the Māori community including race-based affirmative action policies and the creation of separate Māori governance authorities including the Māori Health Authority and the introduction of Māori wards and constituencies in local government. Collins's stance on these issues drew accusations of racism from the Māori Party, which Collins rejected.

In mid-June 2021, Collins supported the Labour Government's apology for the Dawn Raids of the 1970s and early 1980s, which disproportionately targeted the Pasifika communities. She stated that "this historic act of discrimination against our Pasifika communities caused anguish that reverberated across decades and it is right that we acknowledge this."

Collins was removed as leader of the National Party on 25 November 2021 following a caucus vote of no confidence, which took place the day after she sacked rival Simon Bridges over a crude comment he made to fellow MP Jacqui Dean five years prior. The incident had been quickly resolved, with no hard feelings afterwards from either party. Therefore, both National MPs and the media saw Collins's action as being to neutralise Bridges as an opponent by smearing him. Shane Reti was acting leader until the subsequent leadership election on 30 November, when Christopher Luxon was elected party leader.

Shadow Cabinet of Christopher Luxon (2021–2023)

On 19 January 2023, Collins was promoted from 19th to 10th place on Luxon's shadow cabinet. She also assumed the new roles of "Foreign Direct Investment" and "Digitising Government" spokesperson.

Sixth National Government (2023–present)

Collins (right) and Marsden Fund Council Chair Gillian Dobbie at an event to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Marsden Fund

In the 2023 election held on 14 October, Collins retained her Papakura electorate seat by a margin of 13,519 votes over Labour candidate Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki.

On 27 November 2023, Collins assumed seven ministerial portfolios in the National-led coalition government, namely: Attorney-General, Minister of Defence, Minister for Digitising Government, Minister Responsible for the GCSB, Minister Responsible for the NZSIS, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, and Minister for Space. Collins is the first woman to serve as Defence minister. She holds the largest number of portfolios among ministers in the government. On 15 December, Collins was appointed King's Counsel by Christopher Luxon in recognition of "her career achievements and the responsibility she holds on behalf of the Crown".

During a cabinet reshuffle that occurred on 19 January 2025, Collins assumed the public services portfolio from Nicola Willis. In addition, Shane Reti assumed Collins' science, innovation and technology ministerial portfolio.

Minister for the GCSB

On 8 December 2023 Collins, in her capacity as GCSB Minister, joined New Zealand's Five Eyes allies in condemning the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for conducting a series of cyber attacks on British politicians, civil servants, journalists, think tanks, academics, and other public figures.

Attorney-General

On 20 December Collins, in her capacity as Attorney-General, confirmed six judicial appointments: Supreme Court Judge Forrest Miller, Court of Appeal justices Susan Thomas, Rebecca Ellis and Francis Cooke, High Court Chief Judge Sally Fitzgerald, and High Court justice Karen Grau.

Collins delivered a keynote address on constitutional and rule of law challenges in the current global environment to Western Sydney University on 29 October 2024. After her presentation she was named an adjunct professor in the university's school of law.

Minister of Defence

On 12 January 2024, Collins expressed New Zealand's support for Anglo-American airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, which had been disrupting international shipping in response to the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. She called the airstikes a "good example of the international community uniting to address a serious threat to international security" and reaffirmed the New Zealand Defence Force's commitment to supporting international maritime security.

On 22 February 2024, Collins confirmed that the New Zealand Defence Force's European deployment to train Ukrainian soldiers would be extended to June 2025. She also announced that the NZ military deployment's training mandate will be expanded from July 2024 to include specialised training in combat casualty care, combat engineering, leadership, and maritime explosive ordnance disposal training.

In November 2024, Collins invoked Section 9 of the Defence Act 1990 to cancel holiday leave for Defence Force personnel in order to cover striking civilian security guards at military installations during the 2024–2025 Christmas and New Year holiday period. Collins' decision was criticised by the lobby group Mission Homefront, who said that the "use of the temporary power undermined the crucial interdependency with civilian staff."

Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology

On 13 August 2024, Collins as the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology announced that the Government would introduce legislation to end the ban on genetic modification and genetic engineering outside laboratories. This new law will be based on Australia's Gene Technology Act 2000. Collins also confirmed that the Government would establish a national regulator to manage the risks associated with genetic modification and engineering.

On 4 December 2024, Collins announced that the Government would end Marsden grants for humanities and social science research in order to focus on "core sciences" like physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and biomedical sciences that would boost economic growth, scientific and technological development.

Political views

Collins has been described as a conservative. She is seen to represent the right wing of her party, and in her previous roles as Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections, she has promoted law and order policies. Collins has praised former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

In August 2021, Collins called for a referendum on the growing use of Aotearoa, the Māori-language name for New Zealand, in official documents and statements. This was in spite of the fact that Collins had used the name several times during her time as a minister in the previous Fifth National Government.