NZ Minister Resigns After Argument With Staffer Became Physical

National MP Andrew Bayly speaks during the first sitting day of New Zealand's 53rd Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Dec. 1, 2020. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand Cabinet Minister Andrew Bayly has resigned this morning after admitting to “placing a hand” on a staff member during what he called an “animated discussion” last week.

Bayly, who until today held the portfolios of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), issued a brief statement which said he was “deeply sorry” for “a recent incident in which my behaviour towards a staff member was overbearing.”

The incident occurred on Feb. 18 and the Prime Minister’s Office and Parliamentary Services were informed the next day.

After an investigation, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was informed, and Bayly handed him his resignation.

“I have been impatient to drive change in my ministerial portfolios,” Bayly said today. “I took the discussion too far, and I placed a hand on [the staff member’s] upper arm, which was inappropriate.”

Luxon said in a statement that Bayly had “indicated his actions fell short of the expectations he set himself and that are expected of ministers and as such has offered his resignation as a minister, which I have accepted.”

Bayly will remain in Parliament as the MP for Port Waikato. Scott Simpson, the National Party’s senior whip, will take over as the ACC and commerce minister.

Earlier Incident

It’s not the first time Bayly has had to apologise for an interaction. In October last year, he was forced to apologise after a factory worker formally complained that the minister had told him to “[expletive] off” and repeatedly called him a loser, making an “L” with his fingers on his forehead.

Bayly denied using those words but refused to give his version of events, claiming he had not had anything to drink before the exchange took place, as had been alleged.

“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,” he said in a statement at the time.

Keen Adventurer

Bayly is known in New Zealand as something of an adventurer.

He served in the British Parachute Regiment and the NZ Territorial Army (now called the Reserves). He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London.

He is a keen adventure racer and has competed in many events including three Coast-to-Coast races as well as marathons and Ironmans. He has climbed Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring, and four mountains in Antarctica.

In the summer of 2012/13 he dragged a sled 112 kilometres to the South Pole. In 2016, he and his eldest son each dragged sledges 120 kilometres to the North Pole, raising $10,000 for an environmental charity.

In 2019, he and his second son spent a month trekking 500 kilometres across Jordan on camels, retracing the routes of Lawrence of Arabia and living and eating as a Bedouin, a nomadic Arab.

Then in late December 2022, he travelled to the northernmost province of Mongolia with his third son George to spend time with the Dukha people, one of the last groups of nomadic reindeer herders in the world. They spent two weeks living with a Dukha family, riding reindeer between 20 to 30 kilometres a day.