OPINION: Thanks to Metiria Turei, the Green Party is in the midst of an identity crisis.
It's a crisis that cuts to the heart of what the party stands for, and what its priorities are.
Just as importantly, it cuts to the heart of its name: The Greens.
The party doesn't look like the strong, unwavering voice for the environment anymore.
It is not focussed on forests and rivers, or climate change, or conservation underfunding, or waste and pollution reduction.
It is now a party focussed on fighting for the rights of beneficiaries. It is focussed on legitimising benefit fraud, boosting welfare payments, and removing welfare obligations.
Co-leader Metiria Turei is mainly to blame for the new direction, but so are the MPs, party chiefs and staffers who backed her move to publicly admit defrauding the social welfare system in the 90s.
The last three weeks have seen the Green Party's brand entirely associated with social welfare, benefit fraud, Ms Turei's alleged electoral fraud, and her ruling out being a minister.
The struggle of the environment vs social welfare isn't new to the Greens - it's been simmering away in the background for years.
In 1995, the Green Party's internal imbroglio came to a head, with environmentalist Guy Salmon defecting and forming the Progressive Green Party.
He claimed the Greens had become "hopelessly lost and mired within the Alliance and its policies".
At the 1999 election, The Green Party's policy priorities didn't include social welfare - all of them were to do with the environment:
Stop genetic engineering; Stop West Coast logging; Put more money into conservation; Introduce waste and pollution taxes; Promote organic farming.
In those days, the Greens were making headlines about the environment - its supporters were delivering dead kereru to Prime Minister Jenny Shipley to show the effect of her West Coast Beech Forest logging.
Labour will capitalise on Green Party's de-greening
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern is now in the box seat to mop up the voters disillusioned by Turei's benefit scandal.
While many Green voters support beneficiaries being treated with dignity, it's not a priority for many.
There is a big pool of them who want to prioritise the protection of the environment, cleaning our rivers, combating climate change, and reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans.
These voters may will be put off by the Green Party's new direction - and they'll look elsewhere.
Chances are they'll look to someone new, exciting and refreshing who will be a champion for environmental issues.
And Jacinda Ardern is right there to take them - in fact, Labour has a major environmental policy coming up on Wednesday.
Lloyd Burr is a Newshub political reporter.
