Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard is facing criticism over potential conflicts of interest, after it emerged his sister advised his office against introducing tougher regulation of baby formula.
Hoggard was among senior ministers who were lobbied intensively by a handful of companies opposing trans-Tasman infant formula standards, which were later dropped by the government.
Hoggard's sister, Kimberly Crewther, is the executive director of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ), which represents dairy manufacturers and exporters.
An RNZ investigation has found she was invited to industry meetings with Hoggard and emailed his office with advice against the standards.
Hoggard, an ACT MP, dairy farmer and former president of Federated Farmers, said he was not aware his sister had emailed his office opposing the standards, and they did not usually discuss business.
"Normally we only talk about parents and children. Not a lot of shop gets talked about," he told RNZ.
He said he had declared a conflict of interest regarding his sister and brother, who worked for a dairy company, in December 2023.
Political scientist Bryce Edwards said given the relationship with his siblings, and his relationship to the dairy industry, Hoggard should have stepped aside.
"Declaring a conflict of interest isn't enough. You actually have to manage those and be seen to manage them."
Communications obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act showed a staff member from Hoggard's office texted Crewther in June, confirming "the issues raised previously by DCANZ with respect to previous P1028 draft standards have been satisfactorily resolved."
The text referred to one of the draft standards that would have prevented companies from making statements such as "Made with New Zealand milk" on formula packaging.
DCANZ, like other industry members, opposed this particular issue. It was later removed from the final standards.
Crewther also emailed Hoggard's office with her opinion on why the proposed formula standards were not aligned with international regulations.
"We contend that this is an unsuccessful attempt at a nebulous justification which has not been adopted or implemented either internationally or by other major competent authorities," she wrote on 18 July.
Hoggard said he wasn't aware of her email, but he did remember asking his political adviser for advice on the issue.
"I do remember that he came back to me with advice from all over the place. I didn't know that she had actually responded to that one. I didn't know about that."
Hoggard said DCANZ had supported the industry's view that he should ask for a review of the standards at the Food Ministers' Meeting on 25 July. When that was declined, DCANZ dropped its involvement in the issue, he said.
Documents show Hoggard's office invited Crewther, the Infant Nutrition Council, a2 Milk and Danone to meet with the minister on 31 July, but she did not attend. The meeting was held to discuss the companies' preferences for opting in, or out, of the formula standards.
"It's a long bow to suggest that DCANZ influenced New Zealand's decision to withdraw from [the standards], given that I declined the invitation to meet and did not offer a position because DCANZ members had differing views," Crewther told RNZ in a statement.
She said it was widely known she was Andrew Hoggard's sister.
"We've both been primary sector advocates for more than a decade and regularly disclose this interest to manage any perceived conflict."
Both she and DCANZ adhered to professional processes for managing conflicts of interest, Crewther said.
Hoggard had initially refused to say whether he had declared a conflict of interest regarding his sister, withholding the information requested by RNZ under the OIA.
When pressed on the issue in an interview a few weeks later, he confirmed he had declared conflicts of interest in December 2023 for both his sister and brother, Chad Hoggard, who worked for a dairy company.
Hoggard said he was confident his conflicts with his siblings were appropriately managed.
Edwards said there appeared to be an inconsistency in how the government handled ministers' conflicts of interest. For example, Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson had offloaded decisions regarding the supermarket sector because a family member owned a supermarket.
"There seems to be different standards for different ministers."
Edwards said there was increasing public concern about the potential for corruption - and the potential for vested interests getting a better deal than others through lobbyists or through family connections.
"Those with vested interests should be stepping aside or not there in the first place," he said.
Lobbying regulation and greater transparency around how conflicts of interests were managed in government was needed, said Health Coalition New Zealand co-chair Boyd Swinburn.
"We're losing trust in government, we're losing confidence in, in our transparency and in our corruption-free systems. The government actually needs to take special special attention to ensure that conflicts of interest are well managed."
The Health Coalition will launch a campaign today calling for lobbying legislation, more transparency in conflicts of interest, and a review of how political parties were funded.
This would help "level the playing field," said Boyd, an Auckland University professor of population nutrition and global health.
The Greens' food safety spokesperson Steve Abel said the revolving door between industry and politics was concerning.
"You end up with situations like this where the most obvious thing to prioritise, which is food safety in terms of infant formula, is actually being deprioritised because of the huge influence of a dairy lobbyist."
