A document relating to the Smith v Fonterra legal case was sent from a Fonterra staff member to the private email address of a former staffer in the Prime Minister's Office.
It had previously been reported an undisclosed briefing document was provided to the Prime Minister's office by Fonterra and Z Energy regarding climate activist Mike Smith's case against those companies and other major emitters.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said at the time there was no record of the document on file.
Z Energy earlier confirmed to RNZ that it had provided a document to government in 2024 and Fonterra confirmed it had done the same with a hard copy.
Speaking to media in Auckland today, Luxon said the process of the interaction was “unacceptable” and there were a number of reviews underway.
Details emerge over undisclosed lobbying document sent to PM staffer - Watch on TVNZ+
Fonterra and Z Energy confirm in court they met with the Prime Minister's staff – something the PM says he has no record of. (Source: 1News)
“Actually having people transact and communicate through their private email doesn’t help build transparency or public trust, and that has definitely not met the high standard that I have of staffers in the Beehive.
“We’re taking it really seriously.”
Luxon said Ministerial Services had issued instructions to all staff reminding them of their obligations about reporting interactions “but also about being transparent about it”.
“The Department of Internal Affairs is launching a review, and they will work with the former staffer to identify if any of their work emails should be on the public record from their IT account while they worked in Parliament.”
He said the department would also work with the former staffer to identify if any other emails on their personal Gmail account should be on the public record.
'Not consistent with our policies' – Fonterra
A Fonterra spokesperson said it understood the briefing note was sent to the private email “at the staff member’s request”.
“We acknowledge that communicating in this way is not appropriate, and it is not consistent with Fonterra’s policies.”
Earlier, Luxon's office said the former staff member had also given an assurance that there WEre no other emails relating to the Smith v Fonterra case on their private email.
The Ombudsman had also initiated its own review into how the OIA release was handled.
"Using private email to share official information undermines transparency and public trust," Luxon's spokesperson said.
"It remains appropriate for interested parties to talk to Ministers and their staff on policy matters, but it is imperative that information is appropriately recorded and transparent. That did not happen here."
The staff member has not worked in the Prime Minister's Office since October last year, and has not worked at Parliament since January.
'Law must apply to everyone' – climate activist
On the latest developments, Smith told 1News: "Well, you know, essentially the Prime Minister still hasn't answered the key question, which is: 'What did he know about this lobbying and when did he know it?'
"The overall situation is that this is about whether the Government has changed the law, or is about to change the law, to protect major polluters while they’re still facing an active court case over the damage that they’re doing to our land, our communities and our futures.
“No one, not even the Prime Minister, and certainly not the country’s biggest polluters, should be above the law.”
Smith added: “The rule of law must apply to everyone.”
“No politician and no corporation should be getting special treatment.
"We need to build some guardrails around the undue influence of corporations into our political decision-making."
'This stinks to high heaven' – Hipkins
Labour's Chris Hipkins said that as "more new information comes to light, the more this looks like a deliberate ploy by the Prime Ministers office to hide the extend of industry lobbying and influence".
"Christopher Luxon’s Government have agreed to change the law in a way that will clearly benefit large corporations like the petrol companies to the detriment of our environment. This stinks to high heaven. What else are the Prime Minister and his office hiding from the New Zealand public?"
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