The Green Party is calling for the Chief Ombudsman to open a wider investigation into the use of private email accounts inside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s office, after fresh questions emerged over whether official information was properly recorded and disclosed.
The call follows revelations that a climate lobbying document from Fonterra and Z Energy was sent to the private email address of a former senior staffer in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The document related to proposed changes affecting climate litigation, including the Smith v Fonterra case, and has become a flashpoint in a growing debate over lobbying, transparency and the handling of official information.
Green Party co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson have written to Chief Ombudsman John Allen seeking a broader investigation under the Ombudsmen Act.
The party argues the issue is no longer limited to a single email or one staff member, but raises wider concerns about systems inside the Prime Minister’s Office and whether private channels have been used in ways that may avoid public scrutiny.
At the centre of the dispute is a written parliamentary answer from the Prime Minister earlier this year, which listed multiple occasions where staff had received work-related material through non-official email accounts. The Greens say that response did not include the Fonterra and Z Energy document, despite the document later becoming public through other processes.
The Prime Minister’s Office has acknowledged the use of a private email account did not meet expected standards. A review has also been launched by the Department of Internal Affairs into the former staffer’s IT account, while the Ombudsman is already reviewing how the relevant Official Information Act release was handled.
But the Greens say those steps do not go far enough.
They want the Ombudsman to examine whether there were broader failures in record-keeping, disclosure obligations and safeguards around the use of private communication channels by ministerial staff.
The controversy comes amid wider political debate over industry lobbying and the Government’s climate policy direction. Opposition parties have questioned whether business interests have had undue influence over law changes, while the Government maintains that ministers and staff are entitled to receive views from stakeholders as part of policy development.
For Māori and wider public audiences, the issue goes to the heart of trust in government decision-making.
Official information rules exist to ensure the public can scrutinise how decisions are made, who has access to decision-makers, and whether powerful interests are shaping policy behind closed doors.
If official documents are sent through private email accounts and not properly captured in government systems, critics warn that transparency protections can be weakened.
The matter also raises questions about the culture inside ministerial offices, including how staff are trained, how records are retained, and what checks exist to ensure public information laws are followed.
The Government is now under pressure to show that the issue was isolated and that no other official documents have been missed from the public record.
With the 2026 election campaign beginning to sharpen, the back-channel email controversy is likely to remain a major accountability issue for the Prime Minister and his office.
For the Greens, the demand is clear: only a wider independent investigation will be enough to restore confidence that the public record is complete and that official information has not been hidden from scrutiny.
