National to work together on the issue. He also said in his first major speech that he wanted the Green Party to be "more like modern New Zealand", and expand its membership both in terms of numbers and to include a more diverse group of people. 2017 general election The leadership pairing of Turei (a lawyer) and Shaw (a management consultant) pitched itself as a more mainstream, professional version of the party compared to previous incarnations which were associated with "being wacky, smoking dope, hugging trees and eating lentils." A Vanity Fair-style photoshoot presented the co-leaders alongside four new candidates on the cover of North & South magazine in May 2017. Despite this, the party launched "radical" policy reform to the New Zealand welfare system and tax system. In the policy announcement on 16 July, Turei admitted committing benefit fraud in the 1990s and later admitted to electoral fraud in the same period. Under pressure, she eventually resigned on 9 August, leaving Shaw as the Green Party's sole leader for the duration of the 2017 general election campaign. As sole leader, Shaw relaunched the party's campaign in Auckland and a new slogan ("Love New Zealand") on 13 August. In September, Shaw launched the party's climate policy: a Zero Carbon Act with the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the establishment of an independent Climate Change Commission, and the replacement of the current New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme with a Kiwi Climate Fund that pays an annual dividend of $250 to each New Zealander and is generated by taxing farmers for pollution. The Green Party's share of the party vote dropped to 6.3%, resulting in eight MPs being elected. Possible government arrangements after the election included a National/Green government, a Labour/Green/New Zealand First government and a National/New Zealand First government. Shaw ruled out cooperating with the National Party. New Zealand First also negotiated with National but decided to form a coalition government with the Labour Party, with confidence and supply from the Green Party. Coalition Government, 2017–2020 Shaw was appointed Minister of Statistics, Minister for Climate Change and Associate Minister of Finance (outside Cabinet) in the coalition government. As Minister for Statistics, Shaw received criticism from National MP Nick Smith for the low response rate during the 2018 New Zealand census. Shaw attributed the lower response to a lack of Internet access particularly among the older generation. In April