The Prime Minister says he stressed what his expectations of ministers’ behaviour were after Andrew Bayly swore at a man and called him a loser – and got reassurance it would not be repeated.
Just four months later, Bayly “got it wrong” again, Christopher Luxon told the Mike Hosking Breakfast show on Newstalk ZB.
And this morning, Luxon said he would have demoted Bayly and stripped him of his ministry had Bayly not resigned.
Luxon said Bayly had done good work as a minister – “but the reality is, you’ve got to have some standards”.
Andrew Bayly fronts media after resigning for ‘inappropriate’ incident with staffer. Photo /RNZ
He said Bayly “got it wrong” in his latest incident. Bayly said he “placed his hand on [a staffer’s] upper arm” and held it there during a “lively” and “animated” discussion.
An emotional Bayly fronted media yesterday, appearing to hold back tears, saying he had apologised to his staffer, regretted making them uncomfortable, and his actions were inappropriate.
Luxon described the behaviour as disappointing but said he had received an assurance from Bayly after the earlier incident at the winery similar behaviour would not happen again.
Speaking today, Luxon said: “The standards are really clear of my ministers. In this case, I laid down, after the last case, crystal-clear expectations.”
Bayly resigned last Friday evening but it wasn’t publicly announced until yesterday.
“There are times when you have to hold yourself to account and today is one of those days. I have made the personal choice to resign as a minister and have offered my resignation to the Prime minister, which has been accepted,” he said.
In October last year, Bayly swore at a worker at a winery, repeatedly called him a “loser”, told him to “take some wine and ... and f*** off”, and made the shape of an “L” with his hand on his forehead, the worker’s complaint said.
Bayly had denied being intoxicated at the time. He also denied swearing. He said he had been tasting wine, but said that was after the interaction with the worker.
He said at the time he had meant his actions to be light-hearted, but he understood they had offended the worker.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon tells Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking that Andrew Bayly got it wrong. Photo / Michael Craig
Bayly has been an MP since 2014, holding Hunua, which then partly merged into his current seat of Port Waikato.
Bayly accidentally shot his twin brother in the leg in when they were both students at Wanganui Collegiate School in the 1970s, the Dominion Post reported when he was first elected to parliament.
Bayly went on to become an officer in the New Zealand Territorial Army and the British Parachute Regiment.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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