Ardern says Turei cannot be a Cabinet leader and Greens/Labour relationship unchanged

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern says she would have ruled Green Party co-leader Meteria Turei out of a Cabinet position had she not done so herself.

"I think under these circumstances Metiria has made the right decision," Ardern said at a press conference this afternoon.

Turei admitted last night she illegally enrolled at a Mt Albert address where she did not live in 1993 so she could vote for a friend.

Turei revealed last month she did not disclose to Work and Income in the 1990s that she had extra flatmates while she was a solo mother on the domestic purposes benefit. She did not reveal then that one of them was her mother. She said they were financially independent at the time.

Despite the revelations, Ardern said Labour remained committed to the Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties, which commits them to work together in the lead-up to the September 23 election.

"This doesn't change the relationship between Labour and the Greens."

She said she has not met the Green Party co-leaders since being elected leader on Tuesday, nor has she met with NZ First leader Winston Peters.

Ardern's press conference this afternoon also revealed the Labour Party's campaign slogan: "Let's do this".

It replaces the "fresh approach" slogan, which was ditched after Ardern took over as leader after Andrew Little's resignation on Tuesday.

The tag line came about almost inadvertently, Ardern said, adding there were just seven weeks left to change the Government.

It was about what Labour would do in power, such as building more homes and cleaning up rivers.

Ardern will be the only one featured on the party's billboards in the lead-up to September's election - replacing billboards that featured both her and Little.

On not being featured on the billboards, new deputy leader Kelvin Davis said all he had to do was bask in the reflected glory from his leader.

She did not yet know how much it would cost to re-do the billboards and campaign adverts, Ardern said.

Join us live for the latest coverage from the press conference.

New party leader Jacinda Ardern will address media at Parliament to set forward the party's priorities for next month's election and reveal the new slogan after her elevation to leader this week.

It will mark just over 72 hours since she replaced Andrew Little as party leader - the press conference was delayed by 45 minutes to allow Green Party co-leader Meteria Turei to face the media over her recent benefit and electoral fraud revelations .

Ardern is also expected to face questions over the strength of the Labour-Greens Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and any future governmental coalition after the revelations.

She has yet to make a statement, but this morning deputy party leader Kelvin Davies said Turei should have told the full story when she made her admission about her benefit history last month.

"If you're going to open up your personal life like that as a politician you've got to be up-front with everything, not just be selective," he told Newstalk ZB.

Davis said Labour would assess whether Turei's latest revelations could damage Labour.
"We're just going to have to have a good discussion about how this is going to affect us, because we don't want to be seen to be condoning this sort of stuff."