Andrew Bayly on his brutal Cabinet exit and abuse in politics
Outgoing National MP for Port Waikato Andrew Bayly has described his resignation from Cabinet as one of the most brutal experiences of his life. He said abuse aimed at MPs is stopping good people from standing for Parliament.
Bayly made the comments in his final speech to Parliament, known as a valedictory, and in an interview with RNZ published on 18 September RNZ. He retires at this election after 12 years in Parliament. He entered in 2014 as MP for Hunua, later represented Port Waikato, and served as chair of the Justice Committee, the group of MPs that examines justice laws.
In that final speech, reported on 16 September RNZ, Bayly said he had resigned his jobs as a minister based on a false premise. He had wrongly believed a staff member had complained. He said he still stands by the decision to resign. He called what followed brutal.
Bayly said social media has brought a "real degree of nastiness" to the job. He said personal attacks and threats put talented people off leaving secure jobs to enter politics. He said the problem affects recruitment, not only sitting MPs.
He linked that to his own early experience. Early in his time in Parliament, The Post ran a story headlined "MP Shoots Brother" about an accident involving his brother when Bayly was 15 or 16. The Post later removed the story after readers questioned why a decades-old incident was raised again. Bayly said if that happened now, he would face the parliamentary press and social media and "would just be brutalised".
When asked about pastoral support, the help available to MPs under pressure, Bayly answered "Very little". He said MPs had to find their own ways to cope. He said support from colleagues mattered most.
For Bayly, some of that came from his intake, the National MPs first elected in 2014 who met regularly to talk through the job. Only five of the first ten remain. Bayly and Shane Reti both retire at this election.
After leaving Cabinet, Bayly wrote a book he hopes to publish soon. His interests include mountaineering, tramping and endurance racing. In 2019 he spent significant time setting up the Antarctic Parliamentarians Assembly in London.
He finished with a plea about behaviour in the House. He said every MP is there for the right reason, to do good, and should respect different views.
The broader context here is what his account means for the next Parliament. The first issue is attrition. An intake of ten down to five, with two retirements at this election, is a sharp loss of experience. The second is support. If MPs rely on their own coping methods and informal intake groups, the system is weak when those groups break up. For party whips, the MPs who manage discipline and welfare, and for Parliamentary Service, the agency that supports Parliament, the question is whether help stays mostly informal or becomes more structured before the 2026 intake arrives.
