Freedom (formerly the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party) has issued a media release calling on journalists to question former Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins over what it describes as serious failures in government record-keeping during the Covid-19 vaccination rollout. The party alleges that official documents, ministerial diaries, and Cabinet papers reveal a pattern of missing records, unminuted meetings and the omission of myocarditis risk information from public communications and patient consent material, and is urging greater public scrutiny and accountability.
TASMAN, New Zealand — Freedom (formerly NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party) is calling on the national media to wake up, step up, and direct hard questions at former Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.
A recent extensive double-page feature article by Derek Cheng in the Weekend Herald has shed light on how officials and expert advisers covered up vaccine dosing intervals and myocarditis risks to protect their "safe and effective" marketing campaign. However, this only scratches the surface of a much deeper, systemic institutional failure that meant that the rights of Kiwi youth and their families to informed consent were undermined.
The public are still missing the explosive reality of a series of decisions by former top-level Ministers including Chris Hipkins, Jacinda Ardern and Ayesha Verrall, whose unminuted meetings, altered ministerial diaries, and sanitised Cabinet submissions resulted in the glaring omission of heart inflammation warnings from patient information.
The Missing Meeting, Sanitised Cabinet Paper, and Altered Records
Official Information Act requests and ongoing investigations by Freedom leader Sue Grey and Board member Aly Cook have exposed a trail of anomalies surrounding a critical Vaccine Ministers meeting held on 13 August 2021.
According to the release, this was the meeting where key decisions were made to prioritise "consistent messaging" over safety risks for young people's hearts.
The Ministry of Health has confirmed the meeting took place and identified attendees including:
- Chris Hipkins (Chair and Minister for the COVID-19 Response)
- Jacinda Ardern (Prime Minister)
- Grant Robertson (Finance Minister)
- Andrew Little (Minister of Health)
- Ayesha Verrall
- Aupito William Sio
- Peeni Henare
- Senior Ministry of Health officials, including representatives from the Director-General's office, COVID-19 Directorate, Vaccine Programme and Medsafe. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Freedom alleges several anomalies in the official records:
- The meeting does not appear in Jacinda Ardern's proactively released ministerial diary.
- The meeting does not appear in Chris Hipkins' diary.
- The meeting does not appear in Andrew Little's diary.
- Grant Robertson's diary allegedly contains an altered entry where the date "13 August 2021" appears as "3 August 2021" and is reportedly out of chronological order.
- The Ministry of Health has confirmed no minutes or notes were taken, resulting in an Ombudsman complaint regarding withheld documentation. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
Freedom further states that although the meeting agenda has been released publicly, no official minutes exist and that nobody has identified who made the key decisions. The party alleges that a Cabinet paper presented by Chris Hipkins three days later omitted reference to myocarditis risks despite acknowledging the issue internally. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
Aly Cook said:
"It has taken us many months to obtain these documents. Sue Grey and I have made numerous Official Information Act requests and have had to make complaints to the Ombudsmen."
Cook further argues that the Royal Commission of Inquiry did not address these matters and that key witnesses were either not called publicly or their evidence remains confidential.
A Breach of Accountability and Public Trust
Freedom says it has formally referred aspects of the matter to the Chief Archivist at Archives New Zealand, requesting an investigation into whether unminuted meetings, diary omissions and record alterations breached the Public Records Act 2005
The release also points to correspondence from Chief Science Adviser Dr Ian Town which, it says, recommended removing or rewording references suggesting that longer vaccine dosing intervals could reduce myocarditis risk. It alleges those references were subsequently removed from public communications.
The Myocarditis Blind Spot and the Breach of Informed Consent
Freedom argues that warnings about myocarditis were not included in patient information before or after vaccination during the rollout.
Sue Grey said:
"Official guidance should have ensured informed consent. Instead they actively chose to remove warnings that people needed to know, but which might undermine the government's ideology and desired outcomes."
The release further alleges that healthcare professionals were discouraged from raising myocarditis concerns and that vaccinators were not provided with sufficient information to discuss myocarditis and pericarditis risks as part of the informed consent process. It argues this left many New Zealanders unable to make fully informed medical decisions.
Call to Action
Freedom is urging journalists and media organisations to seek answers from Chris Hipkins and other former decision-makers.
The party says the public deserves answers to questions including:
- Why were myocarditis discussions omitted from Cabinet papers?
- Why were ministerial diaries incomplete or altered?
- Why was heart inflammation risk information absent from informed consent materials provided to patients?
The release concludes:
"Transparency cannot wait for future pandemics. The public deserves answers now."
Media Contact
Aly Cook
Communications
contact@freedom.kiwi
Source
Freedom (formerly NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party)
Press Release
3 August 2026
