Dear Metiria,

 I was like you once…I was a single mother on the DPB. But that is where the similarity ends.

 Unlike you, I was married to the father of my children, and unlike you I told WINZ who the father of my children was.

 Unlike you I did not steal from the New Zealand tax payer and lie to WINZ by not declaring income.

Unlike you I didn’t blame WINZ for “making me poor” as you did. I blame myself for my poor choice of husband and my subsequent decision to leave him.

Unlike you I am grateful to WINZ and for having the DPB to help me in my time of need, and for the ability it gave me to improve my life and those of my children.

Unlike you I managed my finances in such a way that I was able to run a modest home and care for my children without resorting to lying, cheating and defrauding the system.

The incongruence of simultaneously studying law while breaking the law is breathtaking, and characterizing all beneficiaries as liars and cheats by saying “everyone does it” is an insult to all honest beneficiaries. I am neither a liar or a cheat yet you have told the world I am. No Madam, you are the liar and the cheat. Do not try to justify your moral bankruptcy by heaping blame on others.

On behalf of all honest, law abiding beneficiaries, you disgust me.

-Name withheld by request

by Cameron Slater on July 21, 2017

Yeah, still finding it funny I ripped off taxpayers

Interesting interview with Turei in E-Tangata from Sunday 2 August 2015. The interviewer was Dale Huband.

DH: “You were a young mum when you went to Law School?

MT: “Yes. The baby was a year old when I started. I thought I’d better pull my socks up. I realised she relied only on me. We weren’t going to rely on a man or the state to take care of us.”  

She knew then that she had been defrauding “the state” for a number of years. So, why did she lie to E-Tangata back then?

Clearly she was relying on the state to take care of her…in fact she lied to the state so that they could take care of her more.

Then some more interesting revelations from a NZ Herald interview in 2002:

“Grandma, a former Mayor of Birkenhead and then of North Shore City, said there would be plenty of whanau to look after Piupiu. Mum, an unsuccessful Auckland mayoral candidate last year and an unemployed contract lawyer who has worked for the Greens fulltime since March, said Ann Hartley had always been supportive of Piupiu, herself and her family. “I think that will remain,” said Metiria Turei. Metiria Turei is separated from Ms Hartley’s son Paul.”

So, Turei expects everyone to think that she was on the breadline while on a DPB – Ann Hartley would never have let her grand-daughter starve. More to the point we now know who the baby daddy was, so shouldn’t IRD be going after him for being a dead beat dad as well?

“Porky” is telling porkies again.

But wait, she also told Woman’s Weekly in 2009:

None of her stories stack up and while she thinks this is all shits and giggles, laughing it all off to the Guardian, it is us taxpayers who have had to pay for all this malarky. Even in the Guardian the story changes again:

I had my daughter, Piupiu, at 22. I was a single, young mum, with no formal education qualifications. After she was born, I knew I needed to forge a career for myself so that I could financially support us and give my girl the best life possible. I made the choice to go to law school.

Over a period of five years, I received a training incentive allowance (a benefit that has since been ditched by our current government), as well as a payment for single parents. I also had help from my family, and my daughter’s father’s family.

Despite all of that support, which is much more than many people in similar circumstances have, I did not have enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table. And so, like many, but not all, people faced with that choice, I lied to survive.

So, she admits to an even bigger welfare and possibly tax fraud. Not only did she cheat WINZ, she also got money, presumably undeclared as well, from her family and the baby daddy’s family…you know the guy she refused to name. On top of that she took in boarders and had yet more undeclared income. She really is a piece of work.

Metiria Turei is a self-confessed benefit cheat, the father of her kid is a dead beat dad who owes the taxpayer literally thousands of dollars in unpaid child support, and she thinks this is all some sort of political stunt and funny.

I think the Greens may well rue the day when they decided promoting and celebrating benefit fraud was a valid political tactic.

She should pay back the money…and so should the father for his liable parent contribution.

by Cameron Slater on July 18, 2017

First this

The employer of a woman who stole more than $200,000 lived on the bare minimum for three years completely unaware one of his most trust[ed] staff members was stealing from him.

It would eventually be a new staff member at AP Group who became suspicious about Lois Jean Povey’s transactions that eventually lifted the lid on her sizeable, and lengthy, theft.

And it was the lengthy nature of Povey’s theft that today saw Judge Philip Connell jail her for two years and two months in the Hamilton District Court.

And now some numbers.

Metiria had three boarders who all paid weekly for five years.   Let’s say they paid $80 each.  That’s in excess of $60,000 that Metiria has defrauded.   And that’s at $80 a week, it could have been more.  Much more.

So $200,000 and the lengthy term of offending were a factor in this.

Judge Connell said although she was a first-time offender and, up until 2010 – when the offending began – was a decent citizen, he couldn’t help but look at the amount stolen and over how long – five years – that left him with no option but to send her to prison.

It appears it isn’t so much the amount of money, but the sustained nature of the offending that makes the difference between home detention and a custodial sentence.

One thing is for sure:  If Metiria somehow manages to admit to $50,000+ in fraud and does not at least face the court system, especially as she did the offending to obtain a law degree, then I’m not sure what standards of behaviour we can possibly measure any kind of criminal act against any longer.

This woman needs to be charged and go through a court process.  I will accept whatever comes out the other end.

by Cameron Slater on July 19, 2017

Metiria Turei is an affront to all those of us who have been on a benefit and not committed fraud.  Her assumption that it is the norm to commit fraud takes my breath away.

Her lack of understanding that what she did is wrong and her blithe statement that she will give it back if she is asked shows that she does not consider it morally wrong to steal and that everyone else does it.

Well I didn’t.  I remember laboriously filling out forms, terrified that I would get it wrong and that they would take the benefit away from me.  It never occurred to me to lie.  And I know many people like me.  Most people do not commit fraud when they think they are not getting enough money – they try to get by.

Not only did she commit fraud, she also got enough money to do a law degree – paid for by the WINZ equivalent.  That would have been a lot of money and many students would have been delighted with the amount of support she received.

How dare she try to change the rules to work for other fraudsters like herself!  We are not a corrupt country, but what she is doing is saying that corruption is a way of life and the rules should be changed so it is no longer corrupt practice to take more than you are “entitled” to.  And of course entitled is now such a dirty word to those of us who pay the bills for her fraud.

The next thing she will be asking for is an apology from the Government for forcing her to steal, and restitution for her loss of integrity!

Give me strength!

Politicians have quit politics for lesser crimes than what Metiria Turei has confessed to yet she has no intention of stepping down. I cannot help but wonder why she would admit to fraud at this stage in her life. One possible conclusion is that she is playing the game of politics. When the opposition discovers something damaging about you the best possible strategy is to quickly admit to it publicly before they can accuse you of it in parliament or leak it to the media. Getting ahead of a scandal can lessen its power to damage you and can take the wind out of the opposition’s sails.

screenshot-Whaleoil

 

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei’s grinning confession that she defrauded the New Zealand taxpayer while studying to be a lawyer means she must immediately quit politics…But she won’t…She should also pay back every cent she obtained by lying, plus penalties…But she won’t…And if possible she should be prosecuted…But she won’t be…Because this is just one big hoot for the former Simpson Grierson corporate lawyer and ex-Legalise Marijuana and McGillicuddy Serious party member…Turei cheated the system knowing it was wrong but did it because she could…For voters who expect MPs to be people of integrity and honesty Turei is a disgrace…Her cheesy “confession” now has all the hallmarks of someone trying to do damage control before being exposed in the media…

-Jock Anderson FB

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Green Party Metiria Turei concedes she could still be charged with fraud after she admitted lying to authorities to keep her benefit.

In her biggest speech of the year, Turei made the extraordinary confession while announcing her party’s plans to dramatically reform New Zealand’s welfare system.

Speaking at the Green Party AGM in Auckland, she said that as a solo mother on a benefit she did not tell Work and Income NZ that she had extra flatmates who were paying rent.

At a press conference afterwards, Turei said she could still face consequences for her illegal behaviour 24 years ago.

“It is possible that WINZ could do an investigation into my case and I could be charged.

“I personally feel I have a responsibility to tell it how it is, because other people don’t have the privileged position that I do.”

Asked whether beneficiaries in a similar position should lie to authorities, she neither encouraged nor dissuaded them, saying that it was up to them.

That is a very unethical stance to take. As a politician who supposedly wants to be in government, she is showing that she has no problem with people defrauding the government and by extension the taxpayers.

An audience of around 250 people at the AGM were silent as she revealed her story, but nodded along and made encouraging noises, one member saying “ka pai Metiria”. She admitted that her admission could hurt her or the party, but said she wanted the Greens to be “defined by our truths”, not by lies.

Steve Joyce has lashed the Greens for their dopey plans to expand the welfare state and pay bludgers more.

Removing requirements for people on benefits to meet reasonable obligations to other taxpayers would be a very big backward step and unfair to working New Zealanders, National Party Campaign Chair Steven Joyce says.

“Our system of income support relies on a set of mutual obligations to people receiving assistance,” Mr Joyce says. “It would be unfair on people providing that assistance through their taxes if those on benefits did not have an obligation to find work, particularly when there is plenty of work available as there is now.”

Mr Joyce was commenting on Green Party policy proposals to lift benefit incomes, lift taxes on people with higher incomes, and remove obligations on people with benefits to look for work.

“The Government’s system of obligations have helped a lot more people get into work and a lot less families are dependent on a benefit than before we started,” Mr Joyce says.

“New Zealand now has the second highest employment rate in the OECD and the lowest level of adult New Zealanders dependent on a benefit and not in work since 1997. The number of sole parents dependent on a benefit and not in work is the lowest since 1988. That means far fewer children growing up in benefit-dependent families.”

Mr Joyce also raised questions about where the money would come from for the proposals.

“This is a very expensive list of promises from the Greens and once again there is no hint as to how the cost would be met. The minor parties are writing some very big cheques for this election at the moment and they have no idea how they’d pay for them.”

“The Government’s Family Incomes Package in Budget 2017 is a very fair package that lifts incomes substantially for low income families with children in some cases by up to $170 or $180 a week. But it comes with obligations on people to look for work and get into work if they can. That’s only fair for everyone.”

If you are being paid by the state then Joyce is right, there are obligations, and one of those is not to steal from taxpayers. That is what Metiria Turei did, and she is self-serving in seeking to expand the welfare state even further.

Joyce is also right in wondering how this can even be paid for. It is the problem all socialists face, eventually they run out of other people’s money to spend.

From Whale oil

KGB wrote

MT admits to benefit fraud 24 years ago, lying to WINZ for financial gain.

Interestingly, she has form demanding resignations from other MPs who have been ‘accused’ of committing a crime. Yet criminal admission is fine.

Benefit fraud is a serious crime. Confession of the crime should require immediate repayment and resignation. I believe she proudly declared her crime thinking it would endear her to the demographic she represents … bludgers.

Look  Posted in General

From Whaleoil

Winston Peters is onto a winner here.

He is proposing two binding referenda on Maori seats and reducing parliament to 100 seats.

New Zealand First has announced a new policy at what leader Winston Peters called a “rally” in Auckland on Sunday afternoon.

Mr Peters would hold two binding referendums on the same day. They would be on two issues:

• Whether to retain or abolish Māori seats,
• Whether to maintain or reduce the size of Parliament to 100 MPs.  

No further policy was announced, but Mr Peters told the crowd policy in the “battle for New Zealand” would be announced over the next nine weeks.

Mr Peters used his speech to argue the National Party is lacking in stability, questioning Nick Smith’s housing policy, policing policy and rates of unemployment.

He said political correctness is “threatening free speech in New Zealand” and defended his party’s immigration and “one law for all” policies as “not racist”.

Mr Peters said the “real racists” are politicians who bring in migrants while allowing services and infrastructure to fail.

“If it’s not migrants that have helped cause a housing crisis, then the blame must lie with the government and politicians that failed to first build houses for them to come to,” Mr Peters said.

The “real racist[s]” are “those politicians who didn’t give a rat’s derriere as to what environment immigrants were walking into to”, he said.

This is going to be real popular.

National voters who are sick of pandering to the Maori party and the ongoing brownmail over water, the foreshore and water will be ecstatic.

You can almost ignore everything else and vote for Winston on just this policy.

From Whaleoil

Metiria Turei is now a self-confessed benefit fraudster and people are calling for her to pay it back.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei should pay back money she received on welfare as a solo mum after admitting she lied to authorities, a tax lobby group says.

Ms Turei said she didn’t tell welfare officials she had income from flatmates when she was receiving a benefit while studying law in the 1990s.

“I knew that if I told the truth about how many people were living in the house my benefit would be cut,” she said when releasing a families policy package on Sunday.

“And I knew that my baby and I could not get by on what was left.

“This is what being on the benefit did to me – it made me poor and it made me lie.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union says she needs to pay back the money she received from Work and Income as a result of her lying about her living situation.

“Putting aside the moral question of whether Ms Turei was justified in breaking the law back in the ’90s, now that she can afford to pay it back, she must do so,” the union’s executive director, Jordan Williams, said.

Lying to Work and Income about subletting rooms is no different to a tax evader cheating on their taxes because they decide they need more money, he says.

“Now Ms Turei is an MP, earning around $200,000 per year, the very least she can do is pay back the money she’s admitted to having defrauded.”

Pay it back.