Judith Collins v PM Jacinda Ardern: who got first points?

National Party leader Judith Collins takes on the PM in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

COMMENT

There was much anticipation as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern headed into Parliament to face off against the fourth Opposition leader she has come up against in as many years: Judith Collins.

Collins opted to stick with her lucky charm for that first encounter.

She made merry tackling Minister Phil Twyford over the failings of KiwiBuild in the past couple of years.

So she opted for another Twyford special for her warm up against Ardern: the doomed policy to deliver light rail to the airport.

To the PM went the early points.

Ardern pre-empted Collins' question line, observing if Collins was going to bang on about light rail "as she would well know, sometimes it takes a little longer to get what you want."

The obvious reference to Collins' repeated attempts to secure the leadership deserved the guffaws of laughter it got.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responds to questions from National leader Judith Collins. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Ardern had further ammunition at her disposal – National's own recent transport policy, full of ambitious tunnels and also full of uncosted projects. That made it fair game to throw Steven Joyce's old "fiscal hole" line back in National's faces.

But it did not all go Ardern's way. Collins is adept at prosecuting a failure, and Ardern found herself dancing on the head of a pin as Collins put quote after quote to her about her earlier promises to deliver on light rail.

That included a quote from last year in which Ardern was asked if it was coming and replied "Oh, yes, yes, yes. Absolutely."

Ardern's most futile defence was that when she made that promise, she had a humble tramway in mind. However, along the way it morphed into a more ambitious light rail project somehow.

The argument seemed to be that she had never promised the flasher project, so could not be held to account for failing to deliver on it.

It simply highlighted the fact she had not delivered on her more humble version either.

Beside Ardern sat the real reason light rail ended up being nothing but stardust: Winston Peters.

Peters gave a wry grin after Collins quoted Peters criticising light rail to the PM, and the PM said "These comments are no surprise to me".

Ardern had easily dealt with questions from the less experienced Todd Muller, but if there was a sign Collins was being taken a bit more seriously it came when Ardern's loyal lieutenants also stood to ask questions to help her: Chris Hipkins, the Greens' Julie Anne Genter and Peters himself all chipped in.

It ended with Ardern a nose ahead, largely courtesy of her quip, but Collins having well and truly rubbed Ardern's nose in the mess light rail had become.

Then it was on to the next debut in a starring role: National's new health spokesman Shane Reti.

Reti's first question to newly minted Health Minister Chris Hipkins ended up being a bit like a mystery novel with the last few pages ripped out.

He asked questions about the types of medical intervention people in the Covid-19 managed isolation and quarantine hotels had to give consent for. He went on and on for several questions.

The MPs sat and waited for him to get to his point, the revelation which never came.

It remains unclear whether it was simply a shaggy dog question, or will be a soap opera question which will be drawn out over successive episodes.

For the Speaker, the National Party's frequent reshuffles were also hard to keep up with. Scolding MPs for chipping in, he developed the new designations of 'newly senior MPs' and 'very senior MPs'.

The 'very senior MP' in question was Simon Bridges, who in the space of two months had gone from being leader to a nonentity to a mid-senior in the Todd Muller reign and then back to being a very senior – but not the most senior – under Collins.

Meanwhile, other former senior MPs had moved their lolly cups to residence in resignation row: Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams sat at the very back, surrounded by other departing MPs.

Then there were the empty seats in National's part of the Debating Chamber. The most recently vacated were those of Hamish Walker and Andrew Falloon, whose resignation from Parliament had been the first event announced.