Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended her handling of Minister Clare Curran's resignation at a press conference in Wellington.

Former Communications Minister Clare Curran says there "may be some more" emails between her and job applicant Derek Handley that have not been released.

Curran was fired from Cabinet over her failure to declare a meeting with Handley, a technologist applying for a highly-paid government IT job.

She later resigned as a minister after failing to adequately defend her use of her private Gmail account for Government business, citing "intolerable" pressure.

MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Clare Curran says "there may be some more" emails between her and Derek Handley but they wouldn't be related to the meeting.

When Curran was fired from Cabinet she proactively released a chain of emails, texts, and Twitter direct messages between her and Handley setting up the meeting.

But one of Handley's emails indicates that other communications may have been exchanged, at one point saying he wants to check "one final time" about the meeting and that he appreciates Curran might not have the time to respond to his "emails".

It's also not clear where Handley got Curran's mobile number or got direct instructions on how to access the Beehive after-hours, when the meeting took place.

Asked if she had released all of her emails with Handley on Tuesday, Curran said "there may be some more".

"They are the full chain of emails that related to the meeting I had with him in February," Curran said. "There may be some more."

Curran said she was archiving all of her Gmail messages that were related to ministerial matters and they would be discoverable to journalists under the Official Information Act.

She wouldn't comment on the content of the emails as she was still undergoing this process.

It's likely that if the emails did not relate directly to the job application they may be redacted in order to respect Handley's privacy.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sought Cabinet Office advice on the use of personal emails.

There is no direct rule against ministers using personal email accounts for official work, and several ministers have done so in the past. But all of these emails must be discoverable under the Official Information Act and archiveable under the Public Records Act.

A spokeswoman for Handley has indicated he wishes to make no comment on the matter.

National's Broadcasting spokeswoman Melissa Lee said there was still more questions on the matter not yet answered, and was worried that Curran herself would be the one deciding whether her Gmails were official or not.

GREG O'CONNOR EATS HUMBLE PIE

While Curran was talking to journalists, Labour backbencher Greg O'Connor was busy digging himself out of a hole he created when discussing Curran's situation.

O'Connor told Newstalk ZB that Curran's departure "could've been done better, I don't think anyone would disagree with that."

He also said she was sacked - when she in fact handed in her resignation to the Prime Minister.

"I got it wrong, my understanding of events, I was wrong," O'Connor said on Tuesday.

He said he talked to the Prime Minister and confirmed this was a "telling-off".

"I got it wrong. When you do these long-ranging interviews you cover a lot of topics."

The questions about Curran were the first thing O'Connor was asked about.

O'Connor has a more extensive public profile than most backbenchers, with a long career as the head of the police union.

"I've had a reasonable career of speaking to the media. You learn all the time."

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