Collins titled her
recent autobiography Pull No Punches although she says she didn't choose the title, telling a Taranaki audience this week with a wry smile she preferred "Take No Prisoners".
She says she doesn't like being called Crusher but wasted no time in reclaiming the nomenclature by stating she hoped her party would "crush the other lot when it comes to September 19".
Collins most recently has been calling herself a "political survivor".
In contrast, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is a social democrat and progressive. She made frequent calls to "be kind" during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. She sought to unify the nation after the Christchurch mosque massacres with the words "they are us".
Ardern outlined her approach to leadership as "kindness, and not being afraid to be kind, or to focus on, or be really driven by empathy".
"I think one of the sad things that I've seen in political leadership is – because we've placed, over time, so much emphasis on notions of assertiveness and strength – that we probably have assumed that it means you can't have those other qualities."
In comparing the two - as voters are bound to over the next 63 days - we can at least be certain the "middle way" has now been vacated by both major party leaders.
