National MP Hamish Walker admits passing on leaked Covid-19 patient info from former party president Michelle Boag

Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker has admitted that he passed on the information to media.

Under-fire National MP Hamish Walker has admitted to passing on the private details of Covid-19 patients to media, which were leaked to him by former party president Michelle Boag.

Boag and Walker revealed their involvement in the leak of patient information to media last week just one day after the Government launched an inquiry into the matter, both apologising for their actions.

State Services Minister Chris Hipkins said the revelations had a “ring of dirty politics” to them and could even be criminal.

Walker, already under pressure over accusations of racism, said he had passed on the information “from a source” in his statement, noting it had not been password-protected and lashing the Government for its availability.

This source was revealed minutes later to be Boag, a former National Party president who retains close links to the party, who said she received it in her role as the acting chief executive of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter trust.

Stuff Former National Party president Michelle Boag, left, has admitted to being the source of the leak.

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“I very much regret my actions and did not anticipate that Hamish would choose to send it on to some media outlets but I am grateful that the media involved have chosen not to publish the 18 names that were contained within it,” Boag said in a statement.

She has resigned as acting chief executive of the trust as a result.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards said the leak was indefensible while National leader Todd Muller described Walker’s actions as an “error in judgement.”

Robert Kitchin/Stuff Hamish Walker said he got the information from “a source” who soon turned out to be former party president Michelle Boag.

Boag would not comment on why she sent the information to Walker when asked by Stuff.

“It would be inappropriate for me to do that because I would be disclosing more details,” Boag said.

The twin apologies came the day after the Government launched an inquiry into the leak of the private patient information about New Zealand’s active Covid-19 patients, which was sent to media on Friday.

State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes appointed QC Michael Heron to head up the inquiry on Monday.

Boag said the inquiry had not yet contacted her, but she imagined she had just saved them a lot of work.

Mark Taylor/Stuff National leader Todd Muller said Walker had made an “error of judgement” and has stripped him of his portfolios.

State Services Minister Chris Hipkins said the leak to media outlets appeared to be deliberate and could be criminal.

Speaking about the revelations late on Tuesday, he said it was disappointing to learn politicians were involved in the leak.

"This is a very disappointing situation, it does have a ring of dirty politics to it, and I think that would be very sad for the forthcoming election campaign.

"If a member of parliament can't accept that receiving people's health information is something that they should treat with a degree of confidence then that says quite a lot about their own levels of personal integrity and judgement."

He said the inquiry into the leak would continue.

“There are some concerns that have legitimately been raised here, and we’ve got to get to the bottom of that ... and make sure we have the relevant systems are in place.”

Stuff State Services Minister Chris Hipkins said the leak to media outlets appeared to be deliberate and could be criminal.

Muller said Walker had made an “error of judgement” and stripped him of his portfolios.

“I have expressed to Hamish my view that forwarding on this information was an error of judgement,” Muller said.

“While I wait for the result of the inquiry I have transferred his Forestry, Land Information and Associate Tourism portfolio responsibilities to Ian McKelvie.”

Walker was already in the news after being accused of racism for issuing a press release that said people from “India, Pakistan, and Korea” could be headed to Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown for quarantine. Currently, only New Zealand citizens or residents are allowed into the country.

Housing Minister Megan Woods said the comments were racist scaremongering, but Walker defended them – saying he had evidence from a source which proved the arrivals would be coming from those countries.

Supplied Privacy Commissioner John Edwards called the leak “indefensible.”

Edwards said there was no excuse for trying to put such sensitive private information into the public domain.

"People are entitled to have an expectation that their health information is kept private and not widely circulated,” he said.

"It causes anxiety to individuals, those involved, and that is unforgivable. It undermines trust and confidence in the system, and that I think also is unforgivable. And indefensible.”

He said if people believed there were shortcomings in a system for protecting information, they should bring those concerns to an authority.

“If people believe that there are shortcomings in the systems for protecting that information then there are ways that they can bring those to the attention of the authorities without releasing those publicly - that's the extremely misguided part of this.”

Walker said in a statement that he got the information from “a source” and it was not password-protected.

“I have spoken to National Party Leader Todd Muller and informed him that I passed to members of the media, by email, information containing Covid-19 patient details that was given to me by a source,” Walker said.

”I did this to expose the Government’s shortcomings so they would be rectified. It was never intended that the personal details would be made public, and they have not been, either by me or the persons I forwarded them to.”

“I made serious allegations against the Government’s Covid-19 response and passed on this information to prove those allegations.”

“Private health information does not have basic safeguards in place and the Government needs to immediately change its protocols and store the information on a secure, safe network that at a minimum requires a password.”

“I sincerely apologise for how I have handled this information and to the individuals impacted by this. I will be fully cooperating with the Michael Heron QC inquiry.”

Walker, a first-term MP, took over the deep-blue Clutha-Southland seat from Todd Barclay, who decided not to stand after he was accused of criminally recording his staff’s conversations without their consent.

Barclay took over the seat from long-term MP Bill English.

Walker ran into trouble earlier this term after falsely claiming in a Facebook post that he had been out door-knocking in the electorate.

He was reselected as the National candidate for the seat earlier this year.

Warren Tucker, who lives in Queenstown, where Walker is usually based, said he was happy with the work Walker was doing for the electorate and appreciated his proactive stance around Covid-19.

"It's not great to see him leaking information, but I'm looking at the positive things he's done for the community, including making the Minister of Tourism accountable for seeing this region through this time."

Queenstown retail worker Sam Wilson did not think Walker was an appropriate person to represent the electorate, particularly after he was accused of racist comments.

"I'd rather have someone trying to help the world, rather than focus on individuals."

The local MP should be someone who was morally aligned with the community, Wilson said.

"We're a multicultural town and we embrace that.

"We all make mistakes but this just shows his true nature."