Election 2023: National MP did not declare shareholding to Parliament in wake of Michael Wood scandal

Andrew Bayly did not disclose shares held in a family trust. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National MP Andrew Bayly did not declare to Parliament his shareholding in a company, risking allegations of hypocrisy, as Bayly was one of the fiercest critics of former Labour minister Michael Wood, who resigned over the same offence.

Newsroom Pro has reported Bayly owns shares worth about A$86,000 ($91,600) in SiteSoft International Ltd, a software company that contracts to government agencies.

The shares are held in Bayly’s family trust, the Paparangi Trust, which acquired them in 2021.

SiteSoft offers digital health and safety compliance services, helping businesses meet New Zealand’s often-rigorous workplace health and safety requirements. Clients include or have included former DHBs (District Health Boards, now divisions of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand).

MPs are required to disclose their shareholdings to Parliament as part of the annual register of pecuniary interests, however MPs decided at the end of the last parliamentary term that shares held in a trust did not necessarily need to be declared, taking a different view to a top official.

The issue was sparked by Wood’s resignation.

Wood resigned after it was revealed that he held multiple shareholdings that he had not declared. Wood had not declared some shares because they were actually held in a family trust.

At the time, the registrar of pecuniary interests, Sir Maarten Wevers, said that MPs must, in certain circumstances, declare shares held in a trust.

But Parliament’s Privileges Committee, investigating Wood, came to a different opinion, saying that the current rules did not exactly require this. Nonetheless, in the aftermath of this resignation, a host of MPs began declaring their interests in more detail.

The Standing Orders committee has been asked to look at the rules around declaring shares held in trust.

Bayly did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment.

He told Newsroom Pro that he, his twin brother Paul and another brother bought into SiteSoft in November 2021 to finance its expansion.

Paul Bayly took a seat on the board, but Andrew Bayly said he had always been a passive investor.

He told Newsroom Pro he had never offered advice to his brother

“I want to confirm to you that I’ve had no direct involvement or management involvement - it’s a passive investment,” he told Newsroom Pro.

Bayly holds the electorate of Port Waikato, a safe National seat that has become interesting this election after the death of the Act candidate there, Neil Christensen, which means a byelection will be held there shortly after the general election.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.