How it unravelled
July 2
● Evening: Hamish Walker sends the Herald a list containing names, dates of birth and isolation facilities of then 18 active current Covid-19 cases, to use as evidence he was right in saying cases were coming from India, Pakistan and Korea but did not reveal the source.
July 4
● Weekend Herald reveals there has been a privacy breach in that it has been sent details of current Covid cases without revealing who or why it was sent. Two other media outlets reveal they have been sent the same information. None publishes the information.
● Health Minister says there will be an inquiry.
● National health spokesman Michael Woodhouse recognises the description of the information is similar to information sent to him by party stalwart Michelle Boag in four emails between June 21 and 25.
● Woodhouse texts Boag to say he had not sent his information to the media. Boag says she knows because the information is different [the number of active cases Woodhouse was sent in June were lower than the 18 active cases Walker was sent but Boag does not tell him it was Walker].
● National leader Todd Muller and Woodhouse strongly criticise the Government for the privacy breach.
July 6
● Lunchtime: Walker contacts Muller privately to confess to having forwarded Covid-19 patient information to the media.
● 3pm: Govt announces independent inquiry to be led by ex-Solicitor-General Michael Heron QC.
July 7
● Muller spends day in Dunedin with Woodhouse.
● Walker issues statement about 5.30pm admitting he sent the patient details to media but says it was to
expose the Govt’s shortcomings at keeping data.
● Boag issues statement moments later admitting she sent the patient details to Walker. Resigns from Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust CEO, in which capacity she got the data from the Ministry of Health.
● Muller issues statement saying it was an error of judgment by Walker, that he has lost his spokesmanships, that he must co-operate with the inquiry and that he, Muller, will not be commenting further until the inquiry is over. Resignation is not mentioned.
● Woodhouse tells Muller that he, too, has received similar information from Boag in June but didn’t do anything with it.
● Woodhouse deletes the Boag emails.
July 8
● Muller says he is angry with Walker and has referred the matter to National’s board of directors.
● Walker announces retirement from politics before board deselects him.
● Woodhouse contacts Heron to say he was sent similar information to Walker from Boag.
July 9
● Muller has standup after speech and rejects a suggestion Woodhouse may have received similar information from Boag.
July 10
● Woodhouse publicly says he received patient information from Boag on four occasions between June 21 and 25 but did not do anything with it or tell anyone about it.
● Boag resigns from the National Party.
● Muller denies having made misleading statement the day before regarding Woodhouse.