Andrew Bayly: NZ minister resigns for placing hand on staff's arm

New Zealand's commerce minister Andrew Bayly has resignedas a government minister after he "placed a hand" on a staff member's upper arm last week, in what he described as "overbearing" behaviour.

Bayly said on Monday that he was "deeply sorry" about the incident, which he described as not an argument but an "animated discussion".

He remains a member of parliament.

His resignation comes after he was criticised last October for calling a winery worker a "loser"- including putting his fingers in an 'L' shape on his forehead - and allegedly using an expletive directed at 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."

He said a complaint had been made but would not elaborate further on exactly what had happened.

Bayly resigned last Friday, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon later told a press conference, adding that the incident happened three days earlier, on 18 February.

Luxon said on Monday the government's handling the issue within a week was "pretty quick" and "pretty impressive". He denied that he should have asked Bayly to step down following October's winery incident, and said "never say never" when asked if there was a way back for the 63-year-old into another cabinet position.

However, Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised Luxon as being "incredibly weak", saying the incident with the staff member should not have been dragged 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.

Bayly himself said that he had to talk to his family and "would have had difficulty" speaking to the media earlier.

He was first elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 2014as an MP for the current ruling National Party. He was appointed the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, and Minister of Statistics following Luxon's election in late 2023.

He was also appointed minister for the ACC - the national accidental injury compensation scheme - following a cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Before joining politics, Bayly worked in the finance industry.

Luxon said Scott Simpson, National's senior whip, would take over the ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs portfolios.

Bayly is the first minister to resign of his own accord under PM Luxon, whose favourability has dipped considerably, according to recent polls. Both the 1News-Verian poll and the Post/Freshwater Strategy poll show his National-led coalition government is losing support among voters.

The government has recently come under fire for some policies that were seen by some as anti-Māori, including the introduction of a bill that many argued undermined Māori rights and the dissolution of the Māori Health Authority - which was set up under the last Labour government to try and create greater health equality.