NZ Minister Steps Down After Incident Involving Staff Member's Arm

New Zealand's Commerce Minister, Andrew Bayly, has resigned from his government role after an incident last week in which he "placed a hand" on a staff member's upper arm, which he acknowledged as "overbearing" behaviour.

In a statement on Monday, Bayly expressed deep regret for the incident, explaining that it was not an argument but rather an "animated discussion."

Although he has stepped down from his ministerial position, he will remain a member of parliament.

This resignation follows criticism from last October, when Bayly was condemned for calling a winery worker a "loser" while making an 'L' gesture on his forehead and allegedly using an expletive towards them. He later issued a public apology.

"As many of you know, I have been impatient to drive change in my ministerial portfolios," Bayly said in a statement announcing his resignation.

"Last week I had an animated discussion with a staff member about work. I took the discussion too far, and I placed a hand on their upper arm, which was inappropriate."

Bayly confirmed that a complaint had been filed but chose not to provide further details on the specifics of the incident.

He resigned last Friday, with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon later revealing at a press conference that the incident occurred three days earlier, on 18 February.

Luxon remarked on Monday that the government’s swift response to the issue, addressing it within a week, was "pretty quick" and "pretty impressive." He rejected the idea that he should have asked Bayly to resign after the October winery incident, and when asked if there was a possibility for the 63-year-old to return to a future cabinet role, he responded with "never say never."

However, Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticized Luxon for being "incredibly weak," arguing that the matter involving the staff member should not have been allowed to drag on over the weekend.

"Christopher Luxon has once again set the bar for ministerial behaviour so low, that it would be almost impossible not to get over it," he told reporters on Monday.

In Bayly's account, he said he wished to speak to family and it would be difficult to have addressed the media on short notice. Bayly was first elected into the New Zealand Parliament as a member for the ruling National Party back in 2014, the late 2023 election of Luxon finds Bayly appointed as the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, and Minister of Statistics.

He has also assumed the role of Minister of ACC-New Zealand's National Accident Compensation Scheme for injuries- in a cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Bayly was previously employed in finance before venturing into politics.

Luxon announced that Scott Simpson, National’s senior whip, would take over the ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs portfolios.

Bayly is the first minister to voluntarily resign under Prime Minister Luxon, whose popularity has significantly declined, according to recent polls. Both the 1News-Verian poll and the Post/Freshwater Strategy poll indicate that his National-led coalition government is losing support among voters.

The government has recently faced criticism for policies perceived by some as anti-Māori, including the introduction of a bill seen as undermining Maori rights and the dissolution of the Maori Health Authority, which was established by the previous Labour government to promote greater health equity.