Judith Collins

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 attending Walton Primary School. In 1977 and 1978 she studied at the University of Canterbury. In 1979 she switched to the University of Auckland, and obtained first an LLB and then a LLM (Hons) and later a Master of Taxation Studies (MTaxS). She met her husband, part-Samoan David Wong Tung, at university. He was then a police officer and had migrated from Samoa as a child. They have one son.

Early in her married life, she and her husband briefly owned a restaurant, Dr Dudding's Restaurant at Hauraki Corner, Takapuna. She initially supported the Labour Party, but joined the National Party in 1999. Collins was previously 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 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 and Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society (1998). She served as chairperson of the Casino Control Authority (1999–2002) and was a director of Housing New Zealand Limited (1999–2001).

Member of Parliament

Collins was elected to Parliament in the 2002 election as National MP for Clevedon. Clevedon, although technically a new electorate, 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 "tough-on-welfare" 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.

Collins' 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. The National Party formed a government and Collins entered Cabinet with the portfolios of Police, Corrections and Veterans' Affairs. 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.

Opposition

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 led to an apology in 2004 from the 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 as a result of campaigning for the inquiry.

Minister of Corrections

In 2009, Collins questioned the leadership of, and later refused to express confidence in the 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, and increased funding to widen the availability of alcohol and drug treatment programmes. Corrections built three new Drug Treatment Units and introducing condensed treatment programmes for prisoners serving shorter sentences. Collins also oversaw completion of the new prison in Mount Eden, Auckland and after recommendation from the Department of Corrections awarded the private management contract for the new prison to the British company, Serco. This was the first prison since 2005 to be managed by a private sector contractor.

In June 2010, Collins announced that from 1 July 2011 smoking and possessing lighters in prison would be banned to reduce the risk that smoking and fire presented to prison guards and prisoners. This ban was subsequently successfully challenged in court on two occasions, resulting in a law change to maintain it.

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 $NZ10 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 cutbacks 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.

After a two-year investigation the Law Commission produced a report for government with 153 recommendations to reform New Zealand’s alcohol laws. While some legislative changes were passed in December 2012, the Opposition and health sector lobbyists say the evidence based advice from the Commission was disregarded by Collins and her predecessor Simon Power with the result that the final legislation "was a pale imitation of the landmark Law Commission report it was based on." Examples include Collins originally announcing a ban in May 2012 of RTDs (ready-to-drink) with 6 per cent alcohol or more from off-licenses. However, in the face of criticism from the liquor industry, she back-tracked on this ban, and three months later announced that the industry would develop its own voluntary code "to limit the harm to young people caused by RTDs". The Commission also recommended a 50 per cent tax increase on alcohol (which was dismissed immediately by the Government) and an increase in the purchase age, which was also dismissed after a conscience vote in September 2012. Collins herself voted to raise the purchase age. Overall Collins said "the reforms struck a sensible balance by reducing the serious harm caused by alcohol without penalising people who drank responsibly." The Labour Party and Professor Doug Sellman of Alcohol Action stated that the changes were weak and would do little to reduce the harm caused by binge drinking. Sellman said: "It's called the Alcohol Reform Bill but it has no reforms in it".

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 found not guilty 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 a 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, Mr Bain filed a claim in the High Court seeking a review of Collins' actions. The claim alleges 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.

Resignation from ministerial positions

In March 2014, Collins was accused of a conflict of interest after an overseas trip where she 'dropped in' and endorsed the milk produced by Oravida – a New Zealand company which exports to China – of which her husband is a director. After being admonished by the Prime Minister, Collins apologised and stated that she and a Chinese executive were 'very close personal friends'. Over the following weeks the Labour Party continued asking who the Chinese official was. Collins did not provide his name, which House speaker David Carter described as "very unsatisfactory". Prime Minister John Key stated publicly that Judith Collins was on her final warning over this incident.

In August 2014 the book Dirty Politics, written by Nicky Hager, revealed that Collins was friends with right-wing blogger Cameron Slater and had passed on private information to him about Simon Pleasants, a public servant at Internal Affairs. Collins believed Pleasants had leaked information about Deputy Prime Minister Bill English misusing his housing allowance. Slater published Mr Pleasant's name and details on his blog as well as the abuse and death threats that were subsequently directed at Mr Pleasants. A 3News-Reid Research poll taken at the time revealed that 63% of voters believed Prime Minister John Key should have stood Collins down over this incident. Mr Key said Collins had been 'unwise' and placed on her second final warning.

Winston Peters claimed he was approached to do a post-2014 election deal with National with Collins as leader. Peters went on to say he would swear an affidavit that he had been approached. Collins denied this claim. On 29 August 2014 John Key backed Collins up by stating "I accept Judith 100 per cent at her word."

On 30 August 2014 Collins resigned her Cabinet positions following the leak of another e-mail written by Slater in 2011 which suggested she had also attempted to undermine another public servant, Adam Feeley. Feeley was Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Collins was the Minister responsible for the SFO at the time. Collins says she resigned because she believed the attacks on her had become a distraction for the National party leading up to the election. She called for an inquiry so she can clear her name.

After Cabinet

After the 2014 election, John Key left Collins off the "Roll of the Honourables" due to the ongoing inquiry into her role with Adam Feeley. This leaves her ineligible to use the title "Honourable". Collins expressed surprise about having found out about the decision through the media, and John Key admitted that his decision should have been explained to Collins. On 25 November 2014 the Chisholm report was released, clearing Collins of the allegations into her dealings with former SFO director Adam Feeley, so on 4 December 2014 Collins was granted the right to retain the title of 'The Honourable' for life.

Return to Cabinet

On 7 December 2015, Prime Minister Key announced Collins would return to Cabinet, to hold her former portfolios of Corrections and Police once again. She was sworn in again on 14 December 2015.

Leadership campaign

Collins announced her intention to seek the National Party leadership in the 2016 leadership election after John Key announced his intention to resign.

After Leadership campaign

On 20 December 2016, she was officially sworn in as a Minister with new portfolios in the new Bill English cabinet. She was demoted in cabinet but was appointed to Minister of Revenue, Minister of Energy and Resources and Minister for Ethnic Communities by Prime Minister Bill English and her Corrections and Police portfolios were given to Louise Upston and Paula Bennett.

Political record

In 2003 Collins voted against the Death with Dignity Bill, a bill aiming to legalise euthanasia in New Zealand.

In 2004 Collins voted against the Civil Union Act 2004 and the Relationships (Statutory References) Act. In 2005 Collins suggested changing the law to stop heterosexuals from entering civil unions. Collins also voted for the Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill, which would have amended the Marriage Act to define marriage as only between a man and woman. In 2012 Collins voted for the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Zealand.

In 2005 Collins voted for the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Act, a bill aimed at raising the drinking age to 20 years. Collins also voted for the Alcohol Reform - raising purchase age to 20 Bill, a 2012 bill aiming at raising the drinking age to 20.

In 2009 Collins voted against the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill, a bill aimed at amending the Misuse of Drugs Act to allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

In 2011 Collins pledged to support abortion-law changes which would make it illegal to perform an abortion on someone under the age of 16 without parental notification. Collins had proposed adding this to the Care of Children Act in 2004.