Earlier this month, Hipkins said the Ministry of Health never passed that expert advice on to ministers. However, a newly surfaced Cabinet paper, uncovered by NZ Herald senior writer Derek Cheng, showed that information was provided to ministers. Speaking on Friday, Hipkins said he had forgotten about that particular Cabinet paper, but any suggestions of a cover-up were "just utterly wrong". "I didn't recall the existence of the Cabinet paper in question," he said. Hipkins said there was "absolutely not" an active decision to keep the information from the public, noting that the Cabinet paper was slated for proactive release.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 27, 2026 04:03 UTC