Judith Collins:
If I were PM
Judith Collins says she will not go ahead with tax cuts and may review iwis’ role in planning decisions if she is made Prime Minister.
Her policy agenda would also include major reforms of health and safety laws and the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Collins is standing for John Key’s job alongside Finance Minister Bill English and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman. She is the outsider in the contest, and hasn’t yet had any public declarations of support from MPs.
The Corrections and Police Minister is known for her hardline stance on law and order, which has led to tougher bail laws, harsher sentencing for some offences, and the crushing of boy racers’ cars.
She supports the Government’s position of not reviewing the age of eligibility for pensions. But her stance on other issues, including tax cuts, means she cannot be easily categorised as rightwing. She is socially liberal and is the only one of the three candidates who voted to legalise same-sex marriage.
She told the Herald yesterday that no constituent she had spoken to was asking for tax relief. “What they’re saying to me . . . certainly my area in the South Auckland . . . is we need infrastructure,” Collins said. “They don’t want to spend an hour-and-ahalf or two hours getting to work.”
Another of her key priorities would be reform of the RMA. Under the current system, too much was being spent on consents rather than construction, she said. “What it shouldn’t be about is trying to stop anybody developing anything unless you get paid off.” RMA reforms before Parliament would make councils consult with iwi at the beginning of the consent process as part of a provision called “iwi participation agreements”. Collins did not go as far as saying she would scrap the provisions, but said they were “highly debatable”. “I think iwi have a right, as does anyone else, but I think this country needs to think very carefully about the economic results of being able to say that one particular group can stop anything.” Her stance would seriously strain the relationship between the National Party and the Maori Party.
It is a key point of difference with Bill English, who has takes a more conciliatory role on Maori issues and works closely with the Maori Party.
Collins’ other priority would be health and safety reforms, which she took “extremely seriously”.
She was concerned the current regime was “enforced to such a degree that people can’t actually go about their businesses”.
The health and safety and RMA issues were ones which National risked losing touch with its base over, Collins said. Key had been a “fine leader”, she said, but as he resigned the party needed to make sure it continued to “bring people with us” and “not go too far in any direction” on such issues.