Judith Collins has admitted she could have performed better during the election but expects to remain National's leader through to the next 2023 campaign.
"I expect so, but we'll wait and see," Collins said in Parliament on Tuesday when asked if she'd remain leader, flanked by the shrunken down National Party caucus following their crushing election defeat on Saturday.
"I always believe that whoever is the best person for the job should be in that job and my view has always been that the National Party is there for the people of New Zealand and we always do the very best we can," Collins said.
"I put everything into it. But there are a few things that I thought 'oh goodness, why'd I do that?' But that's the nature of the beast and we're not going to go down a forensic look at that today... That's why we have a review. There are some things I thought I could've done better."
Collins announced on Sunday that a review would be undertaken into National's campaign and its performance as Opposition over the last three years, after it lost 12 MPs on Saturday - not including the 13 who had already retired or stepped down.
Five of them - Harete Hipango, Jonathan Young, Tim Macindoe, Lawrence Yule and Dan Bidois - lost their electorates to Labour. Seven of them - Alfred Ngaro, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Parmjeet Parmar, Brett Hudson, Jo Hayes, Agnes Loheni and Paulo Garcia - have not made it back on the list because National only got 26.8 percent of the party vote.
"It was very sad actually, because we've farewelled so many caucus members including those who intended to leave and those who didn't intend to leave," Collins said of National's first caucus meeting since the election.
"But at the same time I, and I think everyone else, have been struck by the immense loyalty to the National Party and the people of New Zealand from departing colleagues and also what fine people they are. We're very sorry to have seen them go."
Collins said she is confident the caucus backs her as leader, despite National MPs telling Newshub anonymously on Monday that a leadership coup is expected.
"Oh, yes, very confident, thank you," she said.
National's deputy leader Gerry Brownlee, who lost his Ilam seat to Labour on Saturday, also said he has no intention of stepping down.
"That's not something that's been discussed at this point," he said. "Christchurch needs to have some National presence and we don't have that as of Saturday night so I think there's a job to be done there."
Collins said she will be part of the review into National's campaign but the board hasn't yet decided who it will be undertaken by.
"They will be undertaking meetings with our volunteers and voter-base around various issues and they'll be mostly listening which we think is a great opportunity for us to reconnect, listen and think about the way forward," she said.
"It's onwards and upwards for us and we are determined to be the best Opposition ever. We might not have the size that we have had in the past but we will be very focussed on that and everyone is going to be getting portfolios to work with."
Collins said it was difficult to campaign during COVID-19 restrictions, particularly in Auckland.
"But you know, I've always felt very supported by the caucus and I know that every one of our people here and also those who have sadly departed today has worked really hard and also the candidates who were unsuccessful," she said.
Collins revealed on Sunday that National's internal polling showed it lost 5 percent after Newshub was leaked an email by National MP Denise Lee showing her being critical of the leader's intention to review Auckland Council.
"I think it's really clear that everyone has to work really well together so obviously detailed discussions in caucus stay exactly there and I'm very positive that we are going to have a very, very good caucus and we are going to be a very strong Opposition," Collins said.
"I don't think we're going to be having any issues because I think we're very focussed. I hope we're not going to have any issues but I think it's very important."
Collins allowed Lee to take questions about the email in which she was critical of her. Lee said she backed Collins and had nothing more to say.
While Labour is bringing in a whopping 22 new MPs, making it the largest caucus in Parliament's history, National will be bringing in just five new MPs, including former Air New Zealand boss Chris Luxon.
Collins said the new MPs will be introduced to a "buddy system" so they can be integrated smoothly into Parliament.
"Whips are undertaking a schedule of training for the new MPs along with the parliamentary service as well, so I'm just really positive about our way forward," Collins said, describing Parliament as "something like a rabbit warren".
Collins acknowledged that National's caucus will no longer be as diverse as it was, with Parliament's first Filipino MP Paulo Garcia and first Indian Sikh member Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi ousted, as well as several female MPs.
"One of the really sad things was to lose some very valued colleagues today who very clearly represent parts of New Zealand and communities in New Zealand that we're not currently representing in the way that we want to," Collins said.
"I can tell you that we're going to do our very best to make sure we do exactly that and that we include some of our now former colleagues who are keen to come back and want to be very much involved in what we're doing."
