KEY POINTS:
After six years of crossing swords with Cabinet ministers, National MP Judith Collins is now a minister in her own right.
Mrs Collins, 49, a lawyer with 20 years' experience, won Clevedon in 2002 with a 3127 majority and has spent the following years as an effective Opposition MP.
Following boundary changes she won the new Papakura electorate with a 9674 majority this month.
An effective attack MP in opposition, she has been rewarded for that work with the weighty portfolios of corrections, police and veterans' affairs. She is ranked No 7 in the new Cabinet.
Despite Mrs Collins making a good fist of welfare in opposition, the social development and employment portfolio has been given to Paula Bennett.
In 2005, Mrs Collins told NZPA she would make a "damn fine" welfare minister and once in that job would not be "doling out money" to throw at problems.
Insiders say the problem was one of perception - that she was seen as too tough for a sensitive role in difficult times - and that Mrs Collins was more than happy with the roles she was offered.
In Opposition, she and ACT led the attack on Cabinet minister David Benson-Pope, who eventually stepped down.
Mrs Collins did not hold back.
At one point she said in Parliament he was "deceitful, that he is a bully and that he is a pervert and that he is not a fit person to be in control of children..."
She also led the charge against Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel, who lost her job after misleading a journalist over how a letter by a Sri Lankan girl's lawyer got into the media.
Mrs Collins was instrumental in getting an inquiry into the effect of Agent Orange on war veterans. She is a member of two veterans' groups.
She opposed high profile conscience legislation including laws to allow civil unions and decriminalise prostitution.
Mrs Collins grew up on a farm in Waikato, one of six children in a Labour voting household. She has a law degree with honours and a Masters from Auckland University.
She is married to Samoan-born David Wong Tung and they have a teenaged son, James.
Her prior roles have included Casino Control Authority chairwoman, roles in the Auckland and national Law Society, Housing New Zealand director.
She has owned and operated two restaurants and been a public company director and chairwoman.
- NZPA
