Michelle Boag has resigned her membership from the National Party as MP Michael Woodhouse reveals she sent him "four unsolicited emails" containing confidential COVID-19 patient details.
Woodhouse, National's health spokesperson, said he received the emails between June 21 and 25, and that while it was not the same information as the Hamish Walker leak, it also contained COVID-19 patient details.
"Michelle told me she received this information through her role with the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust (ARHT) and I was led to believe it was circulating among a number of other health agencies," Woodhouse said on Friday.
"I recognised that the information in those emails was private so I did not share it with anyone else and I subsequently deleted them."
Boag sent a statement shortly after Woodhouse's revelation resigning her membership from the National Party, admitting the last few days have "underscored for me the unhealthy relationship I have developed with politics".
"For 47 years, I have devoted much of my professional and personal life to supporting the party that for me has always represented the ultimate Kiwi values of hard work, reward for effort, self-reliance and compassion," she said.
"Unfortunately this passion has put me on a self-destructive path."
The ex-National Party president confessed earlier this week to passing on confidential COVID-19 patient details to Hamish Walker, the MP for Clutha-Southland, who resigned on Wednesday after admitting to leaking the information to the press.
Boag said that information was also made available to her as acting CEO of ARHT. But ARHT said Boag has never had access to any clinical or patient data.
Boag also stepped down from Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye's campaign committee.
Health Minister Chris Hipkins appointed Michael Heron QC earlier this week to lead an investigation into the leaked information.
He said the scandal had a "ring of dirty politics to it".
Boag said she wrote to Michael Heron QC on Thursday night to advise him that towards the end of June she had sent several emails to Woodhouse "comprising notification of a small number" of COVID-19 cases.
"My decisions to share this information were wrong, driven by my distorted view that providing that information would help the National Party to hold the Government to account," Boag said.
"In fact it was harmful, not helpful, and it is time that the National Party and I parted ways."
Woodhouse said he has made contact with Michael Heron QC to provide details to him in the event that it may be relevant to his investigation.
He also confirmed Boag is not the source of any previous information released to him in relation to the Government's COVID-19 response - such as his unresolved claim of a homeless man spending time in a managed isolation facility.
