Judith Collins speaks out after Prime Minister Bill English's reshuffle: 'I'm not wounded at all'

Don't cry for Judith Collins - she says she is not wounded by Prime Minister Bill English's first reshuffle and was more than happy with the result.

Collins was moved from the Police and Corrections portfolios into Revenue and Energy and Resources as well as Ethnic Affairs.

It has been portrayed as a demotion but Collins said she had long been interested in taking on more business-focused portfolios.

"I'm not wounded at all. I'm actually interested that so many people think I would be."

On her drop in the rankings from 14 to 16 she said that was English's decision.

"Those are Bill's calls and I don't think anyone outside Parliament or politics actually cares about that stuff. Like everyone else in Cabinet, I know there are an awful lot of backbenchers and Opposition MPs who would like to be in my position."

Although she had made a name for herself in the Police and Corrections portfolios, Collins said she had long wanted a business-related portfolio and believed serving in a range of areas was important to become a well-rounded minister.

"The problem is you get terribly pigeon-holed and I've always really enjoyed them, and I've really enjoyed the people. But I do have a lot of law and tax experience and as Bill rightly said, it hasn't really been used in the past

Every portfolio I leave I always feel sad, but every portfolio I get I always end up getting involved in and really enjoying. So I suspect it will be exactly the same with these new ones."

She is a former tax lawyer and is currently studying health and safety so said both portfolios fitted well with her.

"I'm probably one of the few people in Government that gets excited about areas like tax policy.

I'm very pleased to have the Revenue and the Energy and Resources portfolios because they are such important business portfolios, economic portfolios. They are both areas that are incredibly important to New Zealand's future so I'm very happy to have those. And Bill has asked me to really run with them and get right into them and I will be."

She said in 2002 English had made her spokesperson for Internal Affairs and associate Health. When she asked why she did not have a legal portfolio, he said "you'll learn more from the areas you don't know.'"

"So I've learnt a lot from the areas I didn't know before. And I'm really excited about it."

Although Revenue tends to be a low-profile portfolio, she will have some problems to sort out. Top of the list is Inland Revenue's $2.6 billion 'Business Transformation' programme upgrading its ageing IT infrastructure which is at risk of getting bogged down in delays and cost blowouts.

Collins said English had also given her the Ethnic Affairs portfolio which she had held previously. "He said he wanted me to do that because I'd done such a good job last time, which I took as a compliment."