The unanswered questions in the Andrew Bayly story

The small business minister has escaped an embarrassing demotion for what he claims was banter gone wrong, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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Transport minister Simeon Brown was at last night’s post-cabinet press conference, but he had few chances to speak. Once the roading announcement was out of the way (work is under way on a new road of national significance), and after a quick question on Wellington Council (Brown has received advice, but wouldn’t provide further details), attention quickly turned to someone very much not on the podium: Andrew Bayly. Yesterday was the first opportunity for the prime minister to be grilled following Friday evening’s revelations that Bayly, the small business minister, purportedly told a worker to “fuck off” during a business visit. Stuff’s Bridie Witton has the key details here, if this has somehow passed you by.

As Jenna Lynch analysed on ThreeNews last night, while the government would have been hoping this story went away over the weekend, there are still questions for Bayly himself to answer. Bayly was sent on something of an apology grand tour on Friday and, during his appearance on RNZ’s Checkpoint, appeared to cast doubt on whether or not he had used the swear referenced in the complainant’s letter. And, he was also called out by host Lisa Owen for seemingly apologising for causing offence rather than for his own actions.

Luxon, speaking last night, defended the handling of the situation and appeared comfortable with how Bayly had responded. As 1News reported, the prime minister said that while Bayly had got it “horribly wrong”, he had accepted responsibility and apologised.

The known timeline, as detailed here by The Post’s Thomas Manch, is that while the incident occurred early in the month, the prime minister’s office was only made aware of it on Thursday evening. That’s the same day other political parties were alerted. Luxon then had a conversation with Bayly on the Friday morning and details of the incident and apology were proactively provided to political reporters that evening. Luxon maintained he was comfortable that the issue had not been escalated to him earlier, as Bayly genuinely believed he had resolved the situation himself (having sent an initial apology a week prior). “What I’m always looking for in these cases [is] have you internalised and understood how much hurt and insult you have caused, and what have you done to make that, as best you can, to make amends?” said Luxon.

On Newstalk ZB’s drive show last night, political correspondent Barry Soper suggested the media was going too hard on Bayly over what was “like a ‘dad joke’ gone wrong”. Soper also made the unfounded claim that the complainant was “politically motivated”. Asked about this yesterday, Luxon did not respond directly but reiterated that Bayly had overstepped the mark.

Meanwhile, questions are being asked over why parliament’s IT system recalled the email the complainant sent to various political leaders last week, reported RNZ’s Jo Moir. The speaker of the house has been asked to investigate the issue after a Labour MP received the email before it subsequently vanished. Luxon told reporters he was not aware of this and his office said they were not responsible. But Labour leader Chris Hipkins said further investigation was needed. “It does seem somewhat strange that an email can be received, read, and then disappear from their inbox.”

Hipkins has continued to query why Bayly remains in his ministerial roles, telling media that a “demotion would certainly be in order”.

Setting an example

Bayly has effectively been put on the naughty step by the PM and has held onto his ministerial roles. Writing for the Herald (paywalled), Claire Trevett contrasted Bayly with former National MP Aaron Gilmore who resigned from parliament in 2013 following a public scandal at a Hanmer Springs restaurant. “The technical reason he lost his job was for the crime of misleading the prime minister rather than being rude to a waiter,” Trevett noted. But, she added: “The bigger reason in his case was the public outcry reached uncomfortable levels and more stories were emerging. The PM had wasted enough breath trying to defend him.”

That’s the same situation Bayly risks finding himself in now, though he’s now made it past four days without any further incidents emerging.

On the flipside, Mediaworks host Duncan Garner has argued that Luxon already looks weak for failing to take stronger action. Luxon has demoted ministers previously without the need for a public embarrassment. Both Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds were shuffled out of portfolios simply for underperforming, though the prime minister wouldn’t admit that was the reason. Writing for The Post at the time, Kelly Dennett said that Luxon’s decision to demote the pair “sent a clear and decisive message to his caucus that it won’t take a scandal or serious wrongdoing to be sent to the backbenches”. It appears that, at least for now, Bayly has avoided being made a similar example of.