The political demise of Metiria Turei: “fraud, liar, cheat, ugh leftie”

ABSTRACT

In this article, I describe a three-week analysis of newspaper articles from three major New Zealand newspapers relating to a statement made by New Zealand politician and Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. Using a “figurative methodology” I argue that the emotionally-charged language used by the media to describe Turei during this period linked her to the affective figure of the welfare mother and, in the process, constituted her as deceitful, lazy and unfit to hold political office. I consider the welfare discourse featuring in articles that not only portrayed Turei negatively but also those that appeared to present Turei in a neutral or positive way. My interest is a consideration of the negative emotion implicit within such rhetoric that works to weaken sympathy for women dependent upon the state for support. I argue that the media reliance upon this language works to constitute welfare mothers in a specific and limiting way, and ultimately led to the end of Metiria Turei’s political career.

KEYWORDS:

• Welfare
• lone mothers
• affect
• emotion
• discourse

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Many Māori identify more specifically by iwi (tribe). Metiria Turei identifies as Ngāti Kahungunu, an iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island.

2. Work and Income New Zealand is often referred to by its acronym “WINZ”.

3. Following Turei’s announcement the Green Party jumped in opinion polls and Labour’s poll numbers declined.

4. In Australia and New Zealand the word “rort” is commonly used to refer to someone taking unfair advantage of a public service.

5. The term “middle New Zealand” is generally taken to mean a person of average income in this country: in other words, the middle class.

6. In New Zealand, social welfare is mainly funded through general taxation.

7. In November 2017 the Government agreed to review section 70A of the Social Security Act (1964). Under this section a reduction could be applied to the benefit of a sole parent who did not identify the other parent of their child or apply for child support.

8. The Ministry of Social Development is responsible for the management of Work and Income New Zealand.

9. The Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) was the name of the welfare entitlement that Turei received. This benefit has since been renamed Sole Parent Support.

10. In the year ending June 2010, for example, the Ministry of Social Development undertook almost 20,000 investigations. Of these only 710 led to convictions (Marriott 2014). This amounts to approximately 0.002% of working-age people receiving a main welfare benefit.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claire Gray

Dr Claire Gray teaches into the Sociology programme at the University of Canterbury. Her research interests centre on issues of social justice and welfare provision in Aotearoa New Zealand. Much of her research explores this subject using the theoretical framework of affect and emotion. E-mail: [email protected]