Muller seeks Walker deselection

The Herald reports:

The National Party board is meeting today to decide the fate of the MP who leaked Covid-19 patient details and leader Todd Muller wants Hamish Walker out.

Muller has written to the party’s board asking them to remove Walker from the party, RNZ reports.

Mullers says there needed to be consequences for the leak and his advice to Walker was to “think deeply about what the honourable next step is”.

Muller told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Yardley that he was informed Monday lunchtime that Walker was the leaker and after the inquiry was announced, made it clear Walker had to co-operate.

He then sought legal advice and once receiving that, made it public.

Last night, Walker and former National Party president Michelle Boag confessed to being behind the massive privacy breach of Covid-19 patient information.

Muller wrote to the National Party board last night outlining concerns about Walker’s judgment and it was meeting today.

“He’s displayed some serious lack of judgment.”

“I’ve made it very, very clear how unacceptable his behaviour was and there was an expectation that this information was to be made public and that he co-operates with the inquiry,” Muller said.

Walker hasn’t given Muller any indication yet whether he will step aside as National’s Clutha-Southland candidate, he told Newstalk ZB.

Muller said he couldn’t be precise around when the board would release their decision as it was their process.

Muller said he’s lost confidence in Walker.

It’s good to see Muller acting strongly on this. There is huge anger within the party at what Walker did.

Sadly for Walker, I don’t think he can recover from this. All MPs will make mistakes, and we should tolerate human error. For example his release on the potential housing in the South Island of returning NZers was clumsy, but that was clearly recoverable from.

But to leak health details of patients to the media is intolerable. And to also be undertaking such an activity as a lone agent, rather than seeking advice from senior colleagues and staff (who would have told him not to do it), means a fatal loss of confidence.

And allowing the leader and health spokesperson to condemn the leak, without telling them he was the leaker, was beyond the pale.

So Muller is right in seeking the board to consider voiding his candidacy (which the board can do).