National MP Andrew Bayly has stood down from his portfolios after a staffer laid a complaint. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Analysis: National MP Andrew Bayly has got off lightly being allowed to resign as a minister - escaping the harsher sentence of being sacked by the Prime Minister.
Christopher Luxon would have been well within his rights to do so, and is facing inevitable criticism from the opposition for being weak in choosing not to.
Bayly stood down from his ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs portfolios on Friday night after a staffer laid a complaint, following an incident in his ministerial office at Parliament on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister's office and Ministerial Services were informed on Wednesday, and after discussions with the staffer and Bayly on Thursday, the Prime Minister was informed that evening.
By late Friday evening Bayly had resigned, although it was midday Monday before he released a statement saying he had stood down.
On Saturday Luxon was in Canterbury for the party's Blue-Greens conference and held a pre-planned media conference that afternoon.
He made no mention that one of his ministers had resigned, or that any incident had taken place or was under investigation.
The political line is that staff in Bayly's office - who would be impacted by his resignation - needed to be told, along with Bayly's family.
Those are conversations that could have happened on Saturday morning, well ahead of Luxon's stand-up at 3pm.
Asked on Monday why it had taken so long for Bayly to be transparent with the public, he said he would have had "difficulty" doing an interview over the past couple of days.
Difficult as it might have been for Bayly, it is hard to reconcile that he has "taken personal responsibility for what has taken place" when he gave himself three days to recover from the fallout of a serious incident, involving physically laying a hand on a staffer, before fronting up to the public.
Ultimately Bayly is accountable to the public, and the public alone, who elected him as MP for Port Waikato.
Andrew Bayly's electorate office in Pukekohe. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Not only does the lag time cast doubt over the sincerity of his apology, but raises questions about why Luxon did not deal with it sooner.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has pointed out he refused Stuart Nash's resignation as a minister after he disclosed confidential Cabinet information to two businessmen, who were both former donors.
At the time in 2023, Hipkins chose to dismiss Nash, such was the seriousness of the situation.
And in 2018 then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stripped Meka Whaitiri of her ministerial responsibilities after allegations of an altercation with her press secretary.
A report later found it was "probable" Whaitiri grabbed and left bruising on her staffer.
There will be plenty of debate over whether Bayly putting his hand on the upper arm of a staffer during an "animated" discussion is a lesser offence than breaching Cabinet responsibility and confidentiality or physically bruising a staffer, but in reality this is about Bayly's personal conduct and putting a staffer in an "uncomfortable position", which is no small matter.
It is also not the first time.
In October Bayly apologised for repeatedly calling a worker at a Marlborough warehouse a loser while on a ministerial visit in his capacity of small business minister. It was also alleged Bayly told the worker to "f*** off" but Bayly does not recall that.
He lost the small business portfolio as a result of that incident.
At the time he told reporters: "I obviously got this completely wrong, and I have unreservedly apologised to the person concerned ... I take responsibility for the situation, and I am sorry.
"I regret my actions. They fall well short of the behaviour expected of a minister, and what I expect of myself. I have also apologised to the prime minister, and given him my assurance it will not happen again."
Just four months later it has happened again.
Luxon has doubled down on his decision not to remove Bayly as a minister earlier, and described the speed in which he's dealt with it as "pretty quick" and "fast".
He said he wanted to give Bayly time to talk to his family and speak with his staff over the weekend and that Bayly himself made the call that he had not met his own personal standards.
Many politicians have not had the luxury of three days to come to terms with their poor conduct before having the public spotlight thrust on them.
Bayly has now paid the price - even with three days' grace and the choice to jump before being pushed - and with Luxon heading to Vietnam on Tuesday for a trade and business visit, he will no doubt be relieved to put some distance between him and the fallout at home.
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