Judith Collins is hailing "resilient" National MP Maureen Pugh who she admits is "on the cusp" of losing her job if the party's support drops even further once special votes are confirmed.
National suffered a heavy election defeat to Labour, going from holding 56 seats in Parliament after the 2017 election to just 35 - and there could be more losses to come.
The Electoral Commission is yet to announce special votes - that's people who enrolled on Election Day and those who cast their ballots from overseas. If Labour picks up another seat, Pugh could be out because she doesn't hold an electorate.
Overseas voting actually gave Labour and the Greens an extra seat each at the last 2017 election. It gave Green MP Golriz Ghahraman her chance to become a lawmaker.
"That's always a possibility for any party and I've always thought there's no point worrying about things you can't control," Collins told reporters on Wednesday, when asked if she's worried about more MPs losing their jobs.
"It's a really hard position for them. As you know, Maureen Pugh is on the cusp. She's been there before. She's a very resilient person and unfortunately people often become resilient because of their experiences and she's had to do that before."
It's the third time Pugh - who ran in the West Coast electorate - has been caught in limbo. In 2014, she made into Parliament on the party list on election night but was out after special votes were counted and it was the same story in 2017.
Pugh became an MP in 2018 after former National leader Bill English stepped down which made room for her to come in on the party list.
Pugh, who has described herself as the "yo-yo MP", told RNZ she expects to be gone once the special votes are confirmed.
"I actually thought this might have been third time lucky. But no... Definitely déjà vu. And so I am under no illusions what is going to happen with the specials are counted," she said.
"It looks like that's going to happen again, although I'm not quite sure whether we will have enough wriggle room this time, because it's a very short list."
Pugh's path to remaining an MP would be if veteran National MPs Gerry Brownlee or Nick Smith - who both lost their electorates to Labour on election night and are now getting in on the party list - decided to quit.
Pugh was thrust into the spotlight in 2018 after a recording leaked by former National MP Jamie-Lee Ross revealed former leader Simon Bridges calling her "f**ing useless", which he later apologised for.
The National Party caucus met on Wednesday morning before each MP will meet with Collins to discuss their future and what portfolios they could be allocated.
"I have asked every MP to have a 30 minute meeting with me over the next two days so that we can discuss what their wishes are around portfolios and also where they can add some value that they may not have realised they've got in areas or experience they haven't had an opportunity to show," Collins said.
"I won't make the allocation until after the Government has announced its portfolios and who's got them. That is really to look at the mix but also who might be best to shadow someone from the Government."
National is losing much of its diversity as a caucus, including several female MPs, its first Filipino MP Paulo Garcia and Indian-born Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi.
"I'm just concerned that we don't have as many people as we'd like to have," Collins said.
"I also think there are obviously issues, particularly that we need to work harder to reach out to communities that would not see themselves necessarily represented at the moment and we need to make sure that we work hard to represent those communities."
Collins said the remaining National MPs should be grateful to be there.
"I would hope that everybody's grateful to be here. It's a great privilege to be an MP."
National MPs will decide on whether to keep Collins and her deputy leader Gerry Brownlee in their roles once the special votes are confirmed.
