Revealed: Stuart Nash’s full emails with donors and why the Government did not release them

Napier MP Stuart Nash shortly after his resignation as a minister. Photo / Warren Buckland

More of former Minister Stuart Nash’s correspondence with donors, including the emails that caused him to be sacked, has finally been released under the Official Information Act.

Emails between Nash and his donors have been released to the Herald along with correspondence between Nash’s office, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ombudsman detailing why the Beehive believed the emails should not be released to the public when they were originally requested as part of an OIA request by Newsroom.

An email between Nash and two of his donors, Troy Bowker and Greg Loveridge, in which Nash discussed confidential Cabinet decisions led to Nash being sacked as a minister earlier this year.

He will retire as an MP at the election.

The email should have been released under an OIA request but was not.

The original reason given for not releasing it was that it “relate[d] to political coalition negotiations as well as correspondence as an MP rather than as a Minister”.

This was despite the thread of emails repeatedly discussing Cabinet deliberations.

The OIA decision was eventually appealed to the Ombudsman. When asked to justify why the information was withheld, Nash said, “The information in dispute was not released as my office and I determined that there was no communication with the named individuals in my capacity as Minister in my portfolio capacity.

“The communication with individuals was either deemed to be in my capacity as MP for Napier undertaking constituency work, in a personal capacity or relate to political coalition negotiations.”

The Ombudsman ended this original inquiry last May after a discussion with the complainant. The inquiry has been reopened at the complainant’s request.

The Cabinet secretary is also investigating Nash’s correspondence with his donors.

The Herald has the full email chain, in which Nash can be seen discussing detailed aspects of Cabinet discussions around the commercial rent relief package.

The emails show Bowker had also attempted to interest Nash in an economic recovery policy that tried to reap the dividends of New Zealand’s then-Covid-free status by encouraging 2000 wealthy people to migrate to New Zealand on the condition they each invested $50 million in New Zealand within a year of arriving here. In return, they would be given a passport.

“2000 people investing $50m is $100bn,” Bowker told Nash.

The emails concerned a pandemic-era policy that allowed commercial tenants access to rent relief from their landlords. A sticking point was whether the policy should be restricted to businesses with 20 or 50 employees and whether that cap applied to a business’ total employees in the country or total employees per site.

The emails show the donors were aware of details being negotiated around the Cabinet table and the dispute between NZ First and Labour.

Replying to the email that originally got Nash in trouble, Bowker said, “Thanks Stu”.

“I know you are being totally upfront with us and it’s much appreciated,” Bowker wrote in an email.

“I feel very let down by Winston and Shane and I’m both surprised and annoyed that he would have supported the ‘20 staff per site’ change as well the fact that the rent relief period is not actually specified as level 4 and 3 in the final cabinet paper,” he also said in an email.

The documents released to the Herald show Nash receiving multiple emails from other donors, although the emails do not show Nash doing anything wrong.