New Zealand Green party leader resigns after revealing she lied to claim benefits

New Zealand Green party leader resigns after revealing she lied to claim benefits

The co-leader of the New Zealand Green party Metiria Turei has resigned citing “unbearable” pressure after she revealed that she had lied to claim more benefits as a single mother more than twenty years ago.

Last month Turei admitted to the New Zealand public that she had lied to a government social welfare agency as a 23-year-old single mother in order to “survive”.

She told Work and Income that she was living alone with her daughter, when in fact she had taken in flatmates to subsidise the cost of her rent.

The revelation was met with shock across the political spectrum, and in the weeks since Turei has faced intense personal and political pressure to resign from parliament, with her critics calling her a “criminal” and saying she is unfit for public office.
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