Cabinet minister Andrew Bayly’s extraordinary outburst, allegedly telling a member of the public to “take some wine and f*** off”, before putting his fingers in an “L” shape on his forehead – known as the loser salute – at a warehouse function was both comical and curious.
The Commerce Minister’s verbal exchange would not be part of the Cabinet Manual, unless there’s a section for stupidity. It is not the type of publicity Prime Minister Christopher Luxon needs, especially with the latest polls showing National and its leader dipping slightly in popularity.
It’s not a major slide but unwanted headlines like Bayly’s are distractions and take up more publicity than good PR announcements like “Iwi-Government housing projects gets green light”.
The incident happened on a visit Bayly made to a warehouse and left the complainant feeling “degraded, embarrassed, and deeply disrespected”.
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Bayly is a seasoned politician and would have encountered people from all walks of life in his job. He should be well equipped to know what is appropriate and what isn’t.
Bayly was elected for Hūnua in 2014 and has 10 years’ experience under his parliamentary belt and his resume for adventure is long and impressive. He has competed in three Coast-to-Coasts, climbed Aoraki/Mt Cook, Mt Aspiring/Tititea, and four mountains in Antarctica, including Vinson Massif, the highest mountain in Antarctica and has even dragged a sled 112km to the South Pole.
Heckler Karl Mokaraka interrupts Christopher Luxon (accompanied by local MP Simeon Brown) during an election campaign stop in Pakuranga last year. Photo / BusinessDesk
Bayly said he has apologised for the interaction – not the words – and Luxon backed his man, adding the comments were “unintentional” and meant in a “light-hearted manner”.
How does Luxon know that? Telling someone to “f*** off“ is unlikely to be light-hearted or unintentional. Luxon wasn’t there and is taking the word of his MP over a member of the public.
On Friday, Luxon said he still had confidence in Bayly and didn’t strip him of his portfolios, but did say the actions were not acceptable and couldn’t be repeated.
Bayly denied he told the worker to “f*** off”, saying there are “different perceptions” between him and the complainant about what occurred but there were witnesses and we are yet to hear from them.
“I certainly apologised to the Prime Minister and said to him it won’t happen again, and the behaviour wasn’t appropriate as a minister,” Bayly said.
“I take responsibility for the situation, and I am sorry.”
The Cabinet Manual will have a section on ministers’ behaviour, and the expectation that they hold themselves to an adult, self-disciplined standard – not that of a juvenile schoolboy.
