New Zealand's Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly has resigned his ministerial positions after what he described as an "animated discussion" that ended with him putting a hand on a staffer.
Mr Bayly said he took the discussion "too far", and described his behaviour as "overbearing" and "inappropriate".
"I am deeply sorry," he said in a statement.
"I have been impatient to drive change in my ministerial portfolios. 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."
Mr Bayley will remain a member of parliament as a representative for Port Waikato.
In a press conference that lasted less than five minutes on Monday, Mr Bayly said the discussion with the staffer was "lively" but did not provide further details.
He denied touching the staffer's arm with force and said "I've never had anything like this happen before".
Mr Bayly said a complaint had been laid but would not comment further.
Why did it take so long to be made public?
The MP for Port Waikato gave his resignation to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Friday night, but only released a statement shortly before midday on Monday.
"I made my decision, obviously we went through a process of understanding the nature of the complaint, then I made my decision and informed the Prime Minister late on Friday night that I wished to stand down as minister," he said.
"To be honest I would have had difficulty doing this interview over the last couple of days. I've had to talk to my family, and that's why I've made the decision and that's why we're announcing it today.
"I have taken personal responsibility for what has taken place."
Mr Bayly said "it is what it is…this is my decision and I think it's important sometimes to reflect about your own activities".
It follows a separate incident in October, where Mr Bayly apologised after repeatedly calling a worker a loser during a site visit for his former small business portfolio.
The worker's complaint said the minister had questioned why they were still working and told them to "take a bottle of wine and go home … take some wine and f*** off", and later called them a "loser" in front of their boss, the minister's assistant, marketing staff and other employees, forming an 'L' on his forehead with his fingers.
New Zealand PM responds
Prime Minister Luxon said Mr Bayly indicated his actions fell short of the expectations he set himself, and that are expected of ministers, and "as such has offered his resignation as a minister, which I have accepted".
That resignation was effective immediately, and Scott Simpson will take over as Minister for ACC and Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
"I do want to thank Mr Bayly for the hard work he has put into his ministerial portfolios," Mr Luxon said.
Mr Luxon said he did think the announcement of the resignation, six days after the incident, showed a "fast response".
"I wanted him to have Saturday, Sunday to get, to inform his family and also other impacted staff, and then we've come today and obviously announced the resignation today," he said.
"I just say to you all I think that's been pretty quick to move as fast as we have within the week, it's pretty impressive."
Mr Luxon refused to clear up the details about the incident.
"I think he's outlined the incident in his own statement and I'm not going to add to that," he said.
"What was important though, was that he identified his interaction with a staff member as having fallen short of his own expectations and he proactively came to me and offered his resignation which I accepted and I think is the right thing to do."
Mr Luxon said he thought the process had been managed "incredibly well".
Asked if there may be a path back for Mr Bayly to be a minister again, Mr Luxon said "never say never", and pointed to what he said was an "exceptionally good job" in his portfolios.
Opposition critical of timeline
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told media on Monday afternoon, Mr Luxon "should have acted sooner".
"Christopher Luxon has once again set the bar for ministerial behaviour so low, that it would be almost impossible to get over it," he said.
"In this case, we now got ministers sacking themselves when the Prime Minister should have shown leadership and done that months ago."
Radio New Zealand
