National MP Judith Collins has announced she will leave Parliament later this year to become the head of the Law Commission – after a colourful and, at times, controversial 24-year political career.
Collins has been an MP continuously since 2002, holding the title of Mother of the House as the longest-serving female member of Parliament.
Parliament’s longest-continually serving woman member has called time, after 24 years. (Source: 1News)
In that time, she has been her party's leader once, served as a Cabinet minister under two governments – most prominently under Sir John Key's administration – and weathered both serious scandal and more light-hearted moments.
1News takes a look back at several of the more notable moments from her political life.
Expelled from Cabinet and demoted
Collins was embroiled in a series of controversies between 2014 and 2015 that eventually led her to resign from Cabinet and be stripped of her "Honourable" title.
She faced conflict-of-interest accusations in March 2014 after endorsing Oravida, a company exporting to China where her husband was a director, and was placed on a final warning by then-PM John Key.
In August 2014, Nicky Hager revealed in his book, Dirty Politics, that Collins had passed private information about public servants to right-wing blogger Cameron Slater, which ultimately led to her resignation from Cabinet later that month amid specific claims circulating that she had undermined the Serious Fraud Office director.
Collins was the minister responsible for the SFO at the time. She was subsequently cleared of directly attempting to undermine the director in a 2014 inquiry.
Key later restored her "Honourable" title and returned her to Cabinet in December 2015, where she resumed her former portfolios of corrections and police.
Crusher Collins
The Papakura MP's most enduring nickname, Crusher Collins, came from when she was police minister in 2009, while targeting boy-racers.
Under the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Act, repeat offenders could have their cars crushed after committing too many serious offences.
She later spoke about the nickname in 2021.
“As a politician, the public can sometimes see a caricature of you. Being labelled ‘Crusher’ encourages that one-dimensional view,” she said.
"I did enjoy driving through changes to take boy-racer cars off the road because I like getting things done, not just talking. But that nickname misses the why, it wasn’t just about the boy racers, it was about making Kiwi communities safe."
Talofa
One of Collins' most infamous one-liners came amid a 2020 election debate when the then-National leader went up against Jacinda Ardern.
From David Lange to Judith Collins, the Leaders Debates' have produced a number of memorable moments. (Source: 1News)
In response to a question from 17-year-old Aigagalefili Fepulea'i Tapua'i about how she planned to help keep children in schools when they are pressured to provide for their families financially, Collins started off by saying, "My husband is Samoan so, talofa".
The comment sparked some backlash on social media with some people viewing her comment as "weaponising" her husband's ethnicity.
An election hail-mary
Collins' presence on the debate stage at all that year, alongside Ardern who went on to win a landslide victory for Labour, was somewhat surprising in and of itself.
She was the third National Party leader that year after stepping up to tackle the leadership after Todd Muller stepped down. It came only months after Muller and his then deputy Nikki Kaye launched a coup against leader Simon Bridges.
Another memorable image of Collins came out of the 2020 campaign where she was pictured on the campaign trail praying at a church.
Collins went on to lead her party to a shattering defeat at the election with Labour riding high on a first-year pandemic surge of popularity.
The then-leader – now soon-to-be former-politician – reflected on that election when speaking to reporters earlier today.
"The 2020 election was pretty bad, but it wasn't the worst. I thought it could be worse."
She agreed that she took a hospital pass that year.
"My husband tells me that I should not have done that. But the thing is that sometimes you just gotta step up when you want to run away from it," Collins said.
"I felt like I did the best I could at that time and with what I had to deal with."
Shane Reti will hold the party's reins for now until a new permanent leader is voted in by MPs next week. (Source: 1News)
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