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.
Today, Luxon's office said it had "been brought to our attention" the document had also been sent to a private email of the staff member, and "a number of reviews" were now underway.
It had been previously reported that the staffer was the Prime Minister's then chief policy adviser Matt Burgess.
"This does not meet the standards expected of staff in the Beehive and we are treating it with the seriousness it deserves."
"The Department of Internal Affairs is conducting a review of the former staff member’s IT account to ensure there are no further documents or meetings relating to the Smith v Fonterra case that should be released, and will work with the individual to identify whether there are any other work-related documents on their private email that should be on the public record."
Luxon's office said the former staff member had also given an assurance that there are 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.
'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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