The world’s first Space Minister Judith Collins is receiving a mixed report card as she leaves Parliament after two and a half years in the role.

Collins took on the portfolio when it was created in 2023, overseeing a space industry that is already worth more than $2.5 billion to the country’s economy.

While New Zealand is currently the world’s third-largest launcher of orbital rockets, behind only the US and China, Collins set a target in 2024 to double the size of New Zealand’s space and advanced aviation sectors by 2030.

Aerospace New Zealand President and Kea Aerospace Chief Executive Mark Rocket said Collins has done an excellent job helping to drive the expansion by focusing on industry growth, international partnerships and regulatory development.

He cited several examples, including “the Prime Minister’s space prizes, the growing space economy that’s being championed, international agreements such as the memorandum of co-operation with the state of Colorado”.

Rocket said it would now like a strong focus from the Government on getting New Zealand investors investing in space.

“As the next Rocket Lab’s start popping up we want local investment not just international investment backing it.”

Auckland University Professor of Physics Richard Easther said some people in the space community may have been surprised by Collins’ appointment but she had a reputation for being an effective minister.

However, he said he was surprised Collins didn’t seem to seek more answers into the 30-million-dollar MethaneSAT mission failure.

“This was the same person who led the Manawanui and McSkimming reports, both hard-hitting investigations.”

In her valedictory speech, Collins, who is leaving politics to head the Law Commission, said being “the first minister for space in the world, or even, dare I say it, in the world” was “pretty cool” and one of the highlights of her 24-year Parliamentary career.

Collins told Newstalk ZB the establishment of a ministerial role showed New Zealand was taking the sector seriously, giving the country an edge and giving her an advantage to get into events a minister of economic development might struggle with.

She said her key achievements included increasing the launch limits from 100 to 1000, giving companies like Rocket Lab more opportunities with a welcoming regulatory environment and getting Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre operating well.

Collins said sharing her portfolios of Defence and Space was very handy.

“Whether it’s around communications in space, whether it’s around even protecting orbits, all those sorts of things, it’s good to have them both understanding of it and also, of course, the security relating to space is incredibly important.”

Labour’s space spokesperson Rachel Brooking said she thought it was useful to have a separate space portfolio but questioned why space needed to be tied to defence and she wanted to see more transparency about the national interest test for each launch.

“When we were in government, it wasn’t tied to defence in that same way, so the ministers were economic development ministers rather than defence ministers.”

Incoming space Minister Chris Penk said he was delighted to be the Minister of a high-value, high-tech, high-growth sector which affects New Zealand every day.

“It impacts agriculture, productivity, satellite navigation, and emergency and disaster response.”

Penk said the portfolio shows how seriously New Zealand takes space and gives people a chance to interact with a minister who is directly responsible for the sector.

“We are able to connect, different strands of, the economy and our society, including our national security, in a way that I think is really important for space.”

Lachlan Rennie is an Auckland-based multimedia journalist for Newstalk ZB covering science, defence, technology, community issues and general news. He previously studied journalism at the New Zealand Broadcasting School before joining NZME in 2024.