Michelle Ann Boag (born 10 December 1954) is a New Zealand public relations practitioner and former

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

president.

Biography

She was educated at

Auckland Girls' Grammar School Auckland Girls' Grammar School (AGGS) is a New Zealand secondary school for girls located in Newton, New Zealand, Newton, Auckland. Established in 1878 as Auckland Girls' High School, it is one of the oldest secondary institutions in the countr ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

in 1977. Boag was a

activist, having joined the Junior National Party in Auckland in the early 1970s. She was in the Prime Minister's press office in 1976, joined the National Party research unit and in 1985 was press officer to the Leader of the Opposition. She spent a short time with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in Australia before moving to public relations work in Auckland and Wellington. While representing Fay Richwhite at the

Winebox Inquiry The Commission of Inquiry into Certain Matters Relating to Taxation, popularly known as the Winebox Inquiry, was an inquiry undertaken in New Zealand to investigate claims of corruption and incompetence in the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and In ...

she misled the inquiry and brought in a fake film crew to collect footage of MP

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...

. Boag was a National Party Dominion councillor and on the Dominion Publicity Committee. In 2001 she became National Party president. In her time as president she rejuvenated the party, manipulating candidate selections to remove those she saw as "dead wood". This enabled

Bill English Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and Leader of the New Zealand National Party, leader of the New Zealand National Party, ...

to become leader of the National Party, for the first time. English would then go on to lead the National Party to its worst ever election result at the 2002 election. In 2006 Boag, then chair of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Foundation, used a rescue helicopter to fetch her passport from Waiheke Island and deliver it to her at Auckland International Airport.

Leaks

Boag became embroiled in the 2012

Accident Compensation Corporation The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) () is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the country's No-fault insurance, no-fault accidental injury compensation scheme, commonly referred to as the ACC scheme. The scheme pro ...

(ACC) privacy breach when it was revealed that she had acted as support person for ACC claimant Bronwyn Pullar. On 7 July 2020, Boag admitted leaking sensitive medical information about

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

patients passed to her in confidence in her role of acting chief executive of the

Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter is a New Zealand accident and emergency rescue and transport service operated by Northern Rescue Helicopter Ltd (NRH''. The operator is a joint venture between Northland Emergency Services Trust and Auc ...

. She gave the information to National MP

Hamish Walker Hamish Richard Walker (born 1985) is a New Zealand former politician and former Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party. Political career At the 2014 general election, Walker stood in , placing second in th ...

, who then provided it to media outlets. As a result she was forced to resign from the role. The following day, Boag resigned from roles she had on National Member of Parliament

Nikki Kaye Nicola Laura Kaye (11 February 1980 – 23 November 2024) was a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand National Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 22 May 2020 to 14 July 2020. Kaye served as the me ...

's electorate and campaign team. On 9 July she offered to resign from the board of the Simplicity Kiwisaver scheme. On 10 July she resigned her membership of the National Party after it was revealed that she had also passed the leaked information to Health spokesperson

Michael Woodhouse Michael Allan Woodhouse (born 1965) is a New Zealand healthcare chief executive and former politician. He was a Member of Parliament for the National Party from 2008 to 2023. Early years Woodhouse was born and raised in South Dunedin, the fi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boag, Michelle Living people New Zealand National Party politicians 1954 births Victoria University of Wellington alumni People educated at Auckland Girls' Grammar School Politicians from Auckland Businesspeople from Auckland