Embattled ACT MP David Garrett has resigned from the ACT Party a disgraced man. He told Radio New Zealand at midday that the publicity around his use of a dead child’s birth certificate to obtain a passport was a “step too far.”
He was also reported on www.scoop.co.nz as saying that his political career was over but there was worse to overcome than that.
Garrett, who built a reputation as a hard-line law and order campaigner, had become enmeshed in political scandal since it was revealed that he had criminal charges laid against him in the past that he failed to reveal publicly when he became a member of parliament.
The family of the child whose identity he had stolen had written to Mr Garrett and he said the publicity had “opened old wounds for them.”
Court documents show that in 1984 Mr Garrett had gone to a New Plymouth cemetery where he took the details of a boy whose date of birth was similar to his own, reported the NZ Herald.
Having obtained a birth certificate in the name of the dead child, he applied for a passport using a bogus reference and providing a photo of himself in disguise.
Court papers from 2005 show that Garrett had been charged with forging a passport application form but was later discharged without conviction.
Details of a conviction for assault in Tonga in 2005 also surfaced. According to the Herald, Mr Garrett had been fined $10.
Whether Garrett remains in the house as an independent MP or if he would quit Parliament outright is yet to be seen.
He was also reported on www.scoop.co.nz as saying that his political career was over but there was worse to overcome than that.
Garrett, who built a reputation as a hard-line law and order campaigner, had become enmeshed in political scandal since it was revealed that he had criminal charges laid against him in the past that he failed to reveal publicly when he became a member of parliament.
The family of the child whose identity he had stolen had written to Mr Garrett and he said the publicity had “opened old wounds for them.”
Court documents show that in 1984 Mr Garrett had gone to a New Plymouth cemetery where he took the details of a boy whose date of birth was similar to his own, reported the NZ Herald.
Having obtained a birth certificate in the name of the dead child, he applied for a passport using a bogus reference and providing a photo of himself in disguise.
Court papers from 2005 show that Garrett had been charged with forging a passport application form but was later discharged without conviction.
Details of a conviction for assault in Tonga in 2005 also surfaced. According to the Herald, Mr Garrett had been fined $10.
Whether Garrett remains in the house as an independent MP or if he would quit Parliament outright is yet to be seen.
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