Muller admits he 'could have been clearer' about who received confidential patient info

July 10, 2020

Muller told 1 NEWS yesterday Boag wasn’t a source for Woodhouse, after she supplied leaked Covid-19 information to Hamish Walker.

National party leader Todd Muller has admitted he could have been more upfront about information his health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse had received from Michelle Boag.

Mr Muller now says he knew on Tuesday night that Mr Woodhouse had been sent confidential patient information by Ms Boag.

Yesterday he said Ms Boag was not a source for Mr Woodhouse.

But earlier today, Mr Woodhouse admitted he was sent confidential information by Ms Boag in several emails.

And the National leader now says that after he heard from Mr Woodhouse on Tuesday he talked with him again on Wednesday and, following that, provided information to the head of the inquiry into the leak of private information by National MP Hamish Walker to media.

Mr Muller says the information Mr Woodhouse received was not the same as the details Mr Walker leaked as Mr Woodhouse was emailed by Ms Boag at the end of June.

“I could have been more clearer," Mr Muller told 1 NEWS this morning. "But I make the point that what Michael Woodhouse received was not the same information as what Hamish Walker received.”

He also said they were "very different issues" as Mr Woodhouse had not gone on to leak the information to the media.

Asked if the New Zealand public could trust him, Mr Muller said: "I am sure they can and I am sure they do."

Today Mr Woodhouse confirmed he'd received four "unsolicited emails" from Ms Boag in late June, while she was the acting CEO of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.

"I recognised that the information in those emails was private so I did not share it with anyone else and I subsequently deleted them," he says.

Mr Woodhouse says it wasn't the same information leaked by Mr Walker, but "was similar insofar as it contained patient details".

Breakfast host John Campbell repeatedly pressed the National MP in the fiery interview.

Only moments after Mr Woodhouse released his statement today, Ms Boag announced she's resigned as a member of the National Party, saying she's developed an "unhealthy relationship with politics".

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