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Judith Collins

Judith Anne Collins (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 .

Collins was appointed to the Cabinet by Prime Minister John Key when the National Party entered government at the . 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 , 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 , 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. Provided by Wikipedia