Judith Collins

The Honourable
Judith Collins
KC MP
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
28th Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Ayesha Verrall
1st Minister for Space
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 27 November 2023
Prime Minister	Christopher Luxon
Preceded by	Office established
Prime Minister
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
Prime Minister
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
9th 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; 24 February 1959 (age 65); 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.^[1] Collins has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Papakura since 2008 and was MP for Clevedon from 2002 to 2008.^[2]

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.^[3] 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,^[4] the day after she suddenly demoted Simon Bridges, a political rival, for allegations of making a since-resolved inappropriate comment in 2017.^[5] 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.^[6]

^ "Live: Judith Collins ousted from National leadership after 499 days". Stuff. 25 November 2021.
^ "Hon Judith Collins MP for Papakura". National Party. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
^ Hager, Nicky (14 July 2020). "Press advisory on Judith Collins and the book Dirty Politics". Scoop. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
^ Cooke, Henry (25 November 2021). "Judith Collins ousted from National leadership, vote to replace her next week". Stuff. Archived from the original on 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
^ Cooke, Henry (24 November 2021). "Simon Bridges demoted by Judith Collins over alleged historical comments to a female colleague". Stuff. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
^ "Members of Parliament – Longest, shortest, oldest, youngest". New Zealand Parliamentary Service. Retrieved 18 March 2024.

[1] "Live: Judith Collins ousted from National leadership after 499 days". Stuff. 25 November 2021.

[2] "Hon Judith Collins MP for Papakura". National Party. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.

[Hager_2020-3] Hager, Nicky (14 July 2020). "Press advisory on Judith Collins and the book Dirty Politics". Scoop. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.

[4] Cooke, Henry (25 November 2021). "Judith Collins ousted from National leadership, vote to replace her next week". Stuff. Archived from the original on 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.

[stuff_judith_demote-5] Cooke, Henry (24 November 2021). "Simon Bridges demoted by Judith Collins over alleged historical comments to a female colleague". Stuff. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.

[6] "Members of Parliament – Longest, shortest, oldest, youngest". New Zealand Parliamentary Service. Retrieved 18 March 2024.

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