Bayly resigned on Friday night after an incident on Tuesday last week where he placed his hand on a staffer’s upper arm, something he said was “inappropriate”. It wasn’t until Monday that the public was informed of the resignation.
The Prime Minister for several minutes avoided clearly answering Hosking’s question, instead calling it a “hypothetical” situation as Bayly had resigned and noting that the former minister had acknowledged he hadn’t met his own standards.
He eventually said he would have demoted Bayly had the resignation not been tended. Luxon went on to say, “you can call it sacked”.
Speaking to media in Vietnam, Luxon said it was a “big decision” for someone to resign.
“When he’s fronted and he’s owned it, you know, I want to make sure that that was clearly his decision to do so. But if he hadn’t [resigned], the conversation would have ended up with the same result.”
Asked about the interview, Luxon said, “maybe I could have got to a ‘yes’ much quicker”.
“It’s also an emotional moment for the individuals concerned. For Andrew to come and make a very big decision very late on a Friday night, then go through the process of talking to friends and family, and actually, it’s a big price he has paid.”
Luxon said he wanted to be “sensitive” to that, but reiterated the outcome would have been the same whether Bayly had resigned or not.
“As was very clear in my remarks and his remarks, he didn’t meet the expectations of a minister. But more importantly, he didn’t meet his own expectations. Importantly, he took responsibility for that and I admire him for doing so.”
Luxon said he regularly communicates with media and “I don’t get it right all the time”.
“In this case, I think we moved through the process pretty quickly and Andrew did the right thing.”
NZ First MP Mark Patterson, whose office is not being staffed by the Ministry of Primary Industries after complaints made by staff. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Mark Patterson office ‘complaints’
The Prime Minister was also asked about the situation in New Zealand First minister Mark Patterson’s office.
The complaints are not about Patterson, but no one involved has been willing to explain the nature of the complaints for privacy reasons.
Luxon said there were “employment matters” and emphasised that they didn’t involve the minister himself.
When it was put to him that the minister was in charge of the office and asked about his capability, Luxon repeated it was an issue for Ministerial Services.
He said he couldn’t remember when he was first made aware of the issue, but said in the last few days he was “aware that Ministerial Services were concerned about staffing issues”.
The Department of Internal Affairs’ Ministerial Services, which provides support to ministers, including employing staff, told the Herald it was “aware of complaints involving staff in Mark Patterson’s office”.
“As this is an employment matter, we will not be providing further details. We can confirm the complaint is not related to the minister,” a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson later clarified there had been multiple complaints made.
Kaye Ryan, MPI’s director people and capability, confirmed the ministry was “working with Ministerial Services regarding staffing of the office”.
“MPI does not currently have any staff in Minister Patterson’s office,” said Ryan, who also refused to comment further for privacy reasons.
The ministry confirmed the decision not to staff Patterson’s office was related to the complaints being raised.
Patterson yesterday told the Herald it was an “employment matter between staff” and refused to say anything more.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
