Andrew Bayly, the Minister of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, and ACC, has resigned from his portfolios after an altercation with a staff member last Tuesday night.
In a statement, Bayly said he had chosen to resign after concerns were raised with Ministerial Services and the Prime Minister’s Office about “overbearing” behaviour toward a staffer.
"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,” he said.
"I have apologised to the staff member and regret placing them in an uncomfortable position”.
A timeline published by a spokesperson said the event happened on Tuesday and was raised with the Prime Minister’s office and Ministerial Services on Wednesday evening.
Bayly, who was a Minister outside of Cabinet, offered his resignation on Friday night.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said in a statement he had accepted the resignation and thanked Bayly for the hard work he had done in his portfolios.
“Mr Bayly indicated to me that his actions fell short of the expectations he sets himself, and that are expected of Ministers, and as such has offered his resignation as a Minister, which I have accepted”.
The resignation takes effect immediately and Scott Simpson will step up to become Minister for ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Simpson is a senior National Party whip, who previously chaired the Environment Select Committee and briefly served as a junior minister under Bill English in 2017.
Bayly’s resignation was likely further fueled by an incident with a member of the public last year, where he called a worker a “loser” and swore at him.
The Minister was responsible for a range of reforms in the financial sector, including on competition. He says he plans to stay in Parliament and continue to represent his Port Waikato electorate.
More to come...
42 Comments
'Them' has always been used as a singular pronoun in English when the gender of the person isn't known or stated.
Wikipedia gives the example: "Somebody has left their umbrella here. Can you please let them know?"
It's likely being used here to deliberately protect the identity of the staff member.
Or it is their preferred pronoun. In my own writing and speech I have developed the habit of using "them" and "they" wherever possible. You really can't go wrong and it is correct English. It's not really being "woke" either. It sounds better to say, "Are they here?" rather than, "Is she here?"
Well, I am pleased. I'm usually a stickler for the precise use of language. Old school grammarians would agree with you. Fowler reports:
In colloquial usage the inconvenience of having no common-sex personal pronoun in the singular has proved stronger than respect for the grammarians, and the one that is available in the plural is made to serve for the singular too.
The gender of a subject is largely irrelevant as to whether they are here or not so why refer to it? Sadly, we don't have a gender neutral personal pronoun so we resort to using the plural.
The alternative is to use "him or her" or "he or she" which would have sounded awkward in Bayly's apology.
The latest in a long line of National party / Goodfellow "merit selections"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bayly
During the collapse of the Bridges led opposition National revealed a shocking element of unsavoury parliamentary identities and behaviour.So much so that it led, fully deservedly, to the hiding the electorate dished out at the 2020 election. Since Luxon assumed the leadership discipline, unity and image have on the face of it, have been restored. Luxon will know that any slippage to that previous status will be disastrous and hopefully for them, the rest of the National party at all levels, will be accordingly attuned.
It's actually quite easy, and something of an art-form in government bureaucracies.
The gist is, first be polite, e.g. yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir.
Then do the exact opposite of what you're being asked to do (or at least what it is you want to do, rather than what you're being told to do).
Then, either plead ignorance, or deny ever having any conversation about it ever. Just deny, deny, deny.
Unless something is written down, it's open to interpretation - it's very frustrating.
I imagine ministers encounter it all the time - it's at it's funniest when the post-meeting minutes are sent by email and completely misrepresent what was agreed, because the minute taker (or someone they work for) has an agenda.
Because no one reads the spam minutes from every meeting, let alone responds to make them accurate and thus you can never be sure that what you agreed in the meeting, was actually agreed formally and what actions will be taken.
I imagine it's something along those lines that the minister got worked up about, and followed up by touched someone whilst discussing animatedly!.
The deliberate wording of the article leads me to believe it was likely a female, subordinate, who didn't like being touched or talked to loudly - and the 'upper arm' grab description leads me to believe it was likely yes a grab of the upper arm, but with a certain amount of the hand 'inadvertently' making contact with the chest area, so yes, very likely to be a PG regarding that part of it.
Not the done thing in offices these days, minister.
Love that you've imagined a whole reality to underpin your victim(/demographic) blaming!
There is some real-world inspiration creeping in - for instance it's a known thing that the political right has spent the last decade frustrated that for the first time in NZ's short history the political leanings of Joe Bureaucrat don't tend their way.
But that doesn't change that everything you've concocted here intends only to humanise and justify the actions of the silly bully boy who frequently loses his rag.
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