For close to 40 minutes, she spoke without notes and hit almost every National talking point the party has been hammering since the outbreak of Covid-19, and some new ones.
Will there be an inheritance tax under a National Government?
"We're not going to tax you for dying," Collins said to a round of applause.
This was one of a number of times Collins played off the rather responsive audience, including at one point asking them if they thought "tax was love," as so stated by the Greens.
Grumbles from those in attendance, followed by a hearty Collins laugh.
But the National leader saved her most cutting comments for Labour.
"What we're going to hear from the Labour leader [Jacinda Ardern] is a message of fear." By contrast, Collins said hers was a "message of hope".
She said Ardern has been telling New Zealand that National wants to open the borders and let Covid-19 back into the country.
National leader Judith Collins (right) with the party's justice spokesman Simon Bridges in Taupo. Photo / Jason Walls
"I don't want to get it [Covid-19] and I know you don't want to get it and I certainly don't want to kill off most of our voters, thank you very much. I really don't."
She then moved to the centrepiece of her speech, and her visit to Taupō – her law and order announcement.
Collins' message was clear – if you're in a gang, a National Government will crack down on you.
If Prime Minister, Collins would ban gang patches and bolster the Police's power to go after gang members.
She also committed to unveiling a specialist gang-focused unit within the Police, to tackling the increasing gang problem in New Zealand.
If it sounds familiar, it's because National announced it a number of months ago but back then, it was mooted the unit would be called "Strike Force Raptor".
The name – borrowed from an Australian gang-focused unit – was gone but Collins said the concept was the same.
"We're very clear about what we do – we use plain language here in the National Party," she said.
National leader Judith Collins meets locals during a campaign meet-and-greet in Tirau. Photo / Jason Walls
Collins – who is travelling with a dedicated security service similar to that of the Prime Minister's during the campaign period – had a number of other stops during the day.
She and her entourage briefly stopped off at a conservation lodge near Wharepapa to announce some of National's conservation policies, including the creation of two new National parks.
Soon after, it was time for the bread and butter stuff campaigns are built on: the 'local walkabout'.
Collins had chosen a number of local businesses in Tirau – the town with the many corrugated iron sculptures – to drop in on.
A café, followed by a dairy, followed by a few small shops before finishing at another café.
She ordered a flat white, before doing the rounds and chatting to some of the locals – all the while posing for photos.
Before Collins left, she was spotted amid a group of people with copies of her recently released book in hand.
