New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has so far failed to produce any evidence a close relative of Labour health spokeswoman Dr Ayesha Verrall leaked documents.

It comes as emails obtained by the Herald show the relative — a Ministry of Health (MoH) staff member — on at least four occasions declared her conflict of interest with the ministry, including after the change of Government.

In October, Peters criticised Verrall’s sister-in-law, who assisted Associate Health Minister Casey Costello with tobacco policy, for not declaring her conflict of interest directly to the minister.

The MoH said the relative had declared her conflict to the ministry and it was its responsibility to share this with Costello, which it failed to do. It apologised for that.

The ministry confirmed to the Herald this week it had sought an independent assessment of its conflict of interest protocol in light of the events and was “adopting recommendations, including the escalation process for identified contacts”.

Peters also suggested at the time that the relative had leaked information.

“Surely, she would know how important it was to make sure the new minister knew who she was,” he said at the time.

“For 11 months she did not. I am not going to have this sort of behaviour going on. I want to know how many documents were leaked, how many conversations she had with [Verrall].”

Asked at the time if he had any evidence of leaks, Peters said: “Oh, give us a break. Do you think we don’t do our homework?”

“Unlike you, I go to the House as a trained lawyer. I am not asking questions I don’t know the answer to. Sit back and watch... when did I go to the House and make allegations based on a surmise or suspicion, I back it up... of course that was a yes”.

Nearly two months on, the Herald asked Peters this week when he would produce any evidence.

He did not answer the question but instead laughed and then started speaking about instances where people had threatened to take legal action against him but never followed up.

“Listen, you guys have a fascination with the law. Remember Chumbawamba, remember Beijing Bob, none of that happened right, none of it will be happening here. I don’t have people getting away with this sort of stuff, thinking they are going to beat us in Parliament like that, I am afraid that is not going to happen to us. I am not remotely concerned about it.”

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Verrall has been highly critical of Peters’ attacks and told the Herald on Wednesday it was a “sign that Winston Peters is losing his touch”.

“This was an unfounded attack on a public servant who couldn’t defend themselves.”

Peters has maintained the public servant should have directly declared the conflict to the minister herself.

Timeline revealed

The Herald has also obtained documents under the Official Information Act showing how the MoH responded to Peters’ claims of the conflict of interest not being declared to Costello. He first made those allegations in the House.

The day after Peters’ remarks, a MoH deputy director-general emailed staff members highlighting the claims. The email referred to the relative as being “diligent to declare her relationship and potential conflict at many points”, including at a recent select committee session.

About an hour later, another email said, “Minister Costello has now rung [redacted] who is seeking a timeframe of when we might be able to have pulled the necessary information”.

A timeline was produced showing when the relative declared her conflict of interest.

It said that when the woman applied for a role with the ministry in February 2021, she declared a conflict on her application. At that time, Verrall was an Associate Health Minister.

“I do not consider these relationships would impact my ability to perform the role but for completeness [redacted] my sister-in-law is Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall.”

The MoH told the Herald she also declared this conflict of interest during her interview for the role on February 17, 2021.

She began the role in May 2021 and completed a conflict of interest form in June of that year.

“The Associate Minister of Health; Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall is my sister-in-law. [Redacted]. I declared this relationship as part of the material I provided in my application for the Principal Advisor role I currently have at the ministry.”

After this was completed, the form was shared with the then-deputy director-general population health and prevention Deborah Woodley.

“The Public Health Agency was established in June 2022, following which, I was advised of the conflict of interest as the deputy director-general, Public Health Agency,” said Dr Andrew Old in his response to the Herald request.

Labour health spokewoman Ayesha Verrall. NZME photograph by Mark Mitchell

In February 2024 — after the Government had changed — the relative completed another conflict of interest form.

“Dr Ayesha Verrall is my sister-in-law. [Redacted]. She is a Labour list MP and the current spokesperson for Health, Public Service and Wellington Issues.

“I note that I have previously declared this relationship: (1) as part of the material I provided in my application for the principal advisor role (now principal analyst role) I hold at the ministry, and (2) as part of this conflict register when she was a Health Minister.”

For each of these declarations, “actions to manage” were listed. However, these are all redacted.

“This contains detailed personal information regarding the employee and the actions to manage the declared conflict,” Old said.

“The ministry considers that it is not appropriate to release the level of detail contained in the management plan and there is a high risk of causing distress and harm to the employee should it be made public”.

As the Herald previously reported, the relative also made the Health Select Committee aware of her conflict of interest in September this year.

“As part of a policy team, the employee prepares advice and information in relation to Smokefree policy, amongst other public health matters,” Old said.

“On September 18, 2024 the employee verbally declared the same potential conflict of interest to the Health Committee before presenting, with other colleagues, the Ministry of Health’s briefing on the Smokefree Amendment Bill.”

On October 2, the relative met with Costello alongside other colleagues about the legislation. There was another meeting on October 7. The conflict wasn’t declared in these meetings. It was on October 23 that Peters made his allegations.

A summary of the timeline said the relative had “actively sought advice on how best to manage the conflict situation”.

“A clear and detailed management plan was put in place in relation to the conflict and she has adhered to this including regular conversations with her manager. [Redacted] has been open and transparent with [Public Health Agency] leadership about the conflict, as part of the active management approach to the conflict.

“In hindsight, it would have been appropriate for the ministry to advise Minister Costello under the no-surprises convention of this potential conflict.

“While there was no deliberate decision made at any point to withhold this information, the conflict ideally would have been disclosed to the Minister after the change in administration and certainly before [redacted] presented to the Health Committee as the Ministry should have identified the need to provide the Minister with a heads up prior to information about the conflict entering the public domain.

“The Ministry apologises for not informing Minister Costello of this potential conflict.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was critical of the ministry’s handling of the conflict, saying it was “incredibly disappointing”.

“It’s an obvious one, it should have been disclosed, it needs to be disclosed.”

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.