A New Zealand government minister said on Monday that he has resigned from his post to hold his hand on the upper hand of a staff member during a “animated” discussion.
The country’s Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bailey said that reporters had “overbuating” to the staff member.
“For that, I am deeply sorry,” he said.
“I took the discussion far away, and I put my hand on his upper hand, which was unfair.”
A complaint was filed about his behavior in the incident last week, the minister said, there was a decline to give further information.
This is the second apology that Bailey has offered for his ministerial conduct after a visit to a business in New Zealand last October.
A worker wrote a letter of complaint at that time, stating that the minister appeared to drink alcohol, sworn and repeatedly “loses”, even with his fingers on his forehead ” “Also made.
Belly sent two apologies in response, saying that he did “the moment wrong” and did his comments “lightly”.
He assured the worker: “I was not intoxicated when we met.”
Despite leaving the post as a minister for his latest encounter, Bailey said he would remain a Member of Parliament and be ready to serve his voters.
The resignation comes as the conservative government of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who took over in November 2023, affected by the increasing cost of living with voters with voters.
Luxon said the handling incident occurred on February 18 and accepted Bailey’s resignation on Friday, allowing the minister to give time to talk to his family and employees.
“I think within the week we’ve had very quickly to move forward. It’s very impressive,” he told reporters.
The New Zealand leader said that Bailey told him that he felt that his actions “fell well for him with those expectations”.
Luxon said that he appreciated that Bailey remained an MP and thanked him for doing “extraordinary jobs” as a minister.
Asked if Belly could return to a ministerial post one day, he told reporters: “Never say.”
Bailey was replaced as Commerce Minister by Scott Simpson, a senior whip responsible for party discipline in Parliament.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
