Susie:
Just while you are here if I can also talk to you about the polls that came out the other day. For you, how does it feel to be polling higher than Simon Bridges?
Judith:
Ah, well it’s um… I just let people see that I’m getting on and doing the job and I’m someone who works very well with the team so I’m just getting on doing my job. It’s always flattering being in those polls and um… I would have to say that most MPs would think it was pretty… pretty flattering to be in there but I also don’t get carried away by it. My job is to… to hold Phil Twyford and the current government to account and that’s what I’m doing.
Susie:
But doesn’t it mean though, that more New Zealanders would like to see you as prime minister than him?
Judith:
Well, I think what it shows at the moment is that um… at the moment we are going to have to work very, very hard towards this next election and one of the best ways of doing that is keeping our heads down and just getting on with the job and not getting all excited about ourselves. And certainly, I’m not someone who gets all excited about myself.
Susie:
Why do you think you’ve… you’re saying that you’re going to have to work very hard towards the next election? Is that because the internal polling you are seeing is putting ah… is putting National at a lower level than perhaps the Colmar Brunton?
Judith:
No, we have to work very hard because whether we are 44, which is the Colmar Brunton, or whether we’re at 37, which is the Reid Research – or whether it’s somewhere in the middle – neither of those… none of those is actually a winnable position without either a coalition partners or we have to work even harder than what we’ve been doing. We have to do better…
Susie:
What is the internal polling showing, that I guess has been shared at caucus?
Judith:
Well, I don’t have the internal polling. I don’t have the internal polling.
Susie:
Isn’t it being showed at caucus?
Judith:
Well we don’t have caucus till today.
Susie:
Are you expecting to see some polling then?
Judith:
Well, if we do see it then no doubt I’ll know – but I won’t be sharing it Susie. It’s not my job to.
Susie:
Okay. When was the last time that there was internal polling shared at the caucus?
Judith:
Oooh, I could not tell you with any accuracy because I have to say I don’t take notes in caucus.
Susie:
But are we talking…?
Judith:
We didn’t have caucus last week.
Susie:
No there wasn’t last week, but the week before?
Judith:
No, I couldn’t tell you, and it’s not for me to. It’s something that ah, you’d need to talk to Simon Bridges about.
Susie:
Do you think he’s doing a good job?
Judith:
Well I think he’s doing the best job that he can and I think that all we need to do is to do better and everyone has to work very hard together.
But the big issue, from my point of view in my experience in politics, is the more that party talks about itself the less likely people want to listen to them.
And what they do what to know, the public, is what we are doing for them and what we want to do for them.
Susie:
That’s the National party’s housing spokesperson, Judith Collins.