The head of the Families Commission in New Zealand has announced she is joining the anti-gay Conservative Party, prompting MPs to denounce her move as a conflict of interest.

Christine Rankin, former head of the Department of Work and Income, announced on Facebook that she has been appointed chief executive of New Zealand’s Conservative Party. ‘My admiration for the party and its leader has continued to grow over the past year or so,’ she said.

‘It would be wiser, and more responsible, for her to have delayed her new role until she has resigned from the Families Commission, or to resign from the Families Commission now,’ said Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei, Stuff NZ reports.

But Rankin said her position at the Families Commission, which offers evidence-based research on well-being for families, is coming to an end.

Established in 2011, The Conservative Party of New Zealand has yet to get a single MP elected but has made headlines through the controversial anti-gay statements of its leader, Colin Craig.

Last year Craig said gay marriage is ‘not normal’ and that gay people are ‘likely to have suffered child abuse’.