Turei pledges to pay back money

Metiria Turei says she will pay back the money she owes to Work and Income after admitting she lied while she was a beneficiary.

In a piece for The Guardian yesterday, Turei wrote about the reason why she decided to reveal her deception, and about the vitriol and abuse she had received since doing it.

The Greens co-leader has previously said she would be willing to pay back the money she took if the Ministry of Social Development chose to follow up on her admission, something it has roughly 12 months to do.

But in the Guardian piece, she appeared to confirm she would pay it back no matter what.

‘‘Of course, as I’ve said, I’ll pay back what I owe,’’ she wrote.

Turei said she felt she had no choice but to share her story when she read an article about a woman accused of benefit fraud committing suicide.

‘‘It was eventually found that she had committed no offence but it was too late for her and the family she left behind ...

‘‘Nobody wants to be defined by a lie – I certainly never wanted to be.

‘‘But the outrage and the urgency I felt after reading that woman’s story was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. For me, it felt like it was now or never.’’

Turei wrote in The Guardian the anger directed at her since the announcement had started a conversation about the welfare system in NZ.

‘‘All the abuse and vitriol that beneficiaries face today, by the agencies and in private, is now being levelled at me, in public.

‘‘That reaction was expected. And it has broken the silence about how awful life on a benefit really is.’’

She was hopeful that conversation would help restore the welfare system, in time, to the ‘‘true safety net that helps our people when they need it’’.