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.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, October 22.
In today’s edition: Rebooted three strikes law to be made tougher, government concerned as Ihumātao progress remains stalled, and the first instalment of our top TV shows countdown. But first, how do you solve a problem like Andrew Bayly?
Bayly still has questions to answer
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.
PM: Bayly got it ‘horribly wrong’
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.
Parliament IT recalled complainant’s email
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". On Twitter, the Labour leader has criticised Bayly for questioning the version of events put forward by the complainant.
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.
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Rebooted three strikes law to be made tougher
Thousands more offenders could be caught up in changes announced to the government’s revamped three strikes bill this morning, reports the Herald’s Derek Cheng. Changes include halving the threshold for a first strike offence, and making the law retrospective. The bill is currently before select committee, which makes announcing these new changes now a little surprising. Associate justice minister Nicole McKee said the updates were in response to public feedback that the initial proposal was too soft.
As Cheng notes, the move to make the law apply retrospectively is likely to raise Bill of Rights Act concerns. But McKee disagrees: “The violations that have been committed are against the victims of our communities, and they are the ones that we’re going to protect,” she said. “Otherwise you have some people who could still go on to commit serious violent or sexual crime, and start again from scratch. So, we think [making it retrospective is] fair.”
Top 100: A world-leading web series and a divisive cult comedy
The first instalment of our daily countdown of the top 100 New Zealand TV shows of the 21st century includes one of the most controversial reality shows we’ve ever made. Without giving it away, one review at the time described the programme as: “about as exciting as watching tattoo ink dry”. What is it? Click through to find out.
Join us on The Spinoff every day at 9am to discover the latest ranking (today will see the 80-61 spots released, and so on) and see where your favourite lands. We also have an interactive feature that allows you to check off the shows you’ve seen and make a watchlist out of those you haven’t (there are a lot of shows I have never set eyes on, and some I haven’t even heard of).
And if you haven’t already, subscribe to Rec Room now to get the rankings delivered directly to you as soon as they're live each day.
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Click and Collect
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That’s it for today, thanks for reading. See you back here tomorrow morning.
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We don't have a PM only a bucket list wannabe. Luxon has no Mana and no stomach for confrontation. He is a blow hard absent at the wheel. Soper's alleged comment is entirely in line with the stooge apologist he remains. Bayley, if he were a brown skinned woman, would be burnt toast by now. The double standards of this appalling government knows no boundaries.
If those are the kinds of dad jokes that Barry Soper makes to his kids, I think someone needs to call the authorities.