1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: As you heard earlier nationally, MP Andrew Bailey is fighting 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: to clear his name. He says he was misled about 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: alleged complaints against him that made him resign from his 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: job as a minister, and he is with us now, 5 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: Hi Andrew, Hello Heather Andrew. If you knew that there 6 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: was no formal complaint against you, would you have resigned? 7 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't have resigned. It wasn't just the formal complaint. 8 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 2: It was the statement that three people corroborated the allegation. 9 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 2: And that's that was what made me get to a 10 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 2: position where I offered my resignation. And if I'd known 11 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 2: that now, I wouldn't. 12 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: Have well, because I mean, from reading the documents, it 13 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: seems like the reason you offered your resignation was even 14 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: though you believe you've done nothing wrong, you thought I 15 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: can't win a battle against three people saying the opposite, right. 16 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And I didn't want to cause a distraction 17 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 2: to the party. And you know, I do have some principles. 18 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 2: So I made the call or that I would resign 19 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 2: based on what I was presented with, which soon became 20 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 2: apparent that that wasn't the situation. 21 00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: Who led you to believe that there was a formal complaint. 22 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 2: Well, the only time I ever got to talk to 23 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 2: the Department of Internal Affairs, who were initially involved in 24 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 2: looking at the allegation, there was only one meeting. There 25 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 2: never came to me prior to that and actually asked 26 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 2: me what I thought had gone on and anything like that. 27 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 2: But in the meeting was when they had this is 28 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 2: literally an aw after meeting the app that meeting with them, 29 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 2: I then offered by resignation because I said, to how 30 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,839 Speaker 2: staff people look, three people, I can't win one against 31 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 2: three on that basis. I'm resigning. 32 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: Okay, did the Prime Minister's office ever tell you there 33 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: wasn't a formal complaint and there wasn't any corroboration. 34 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 2: No, And of course the operating on the same information 35 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 2: as I had, So you know, we all came to 36 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 2: the I think, to the same conclusion, and I came 37 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 2: to the feed that I wanted to resign, and I 38 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 2: offered the resignation. But I think if everyone had the 39 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 2: same information that we now know, it might have been 40 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 2: quite a different outcome. 41 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: Now though, Andrew, I mean, what makes it suspicious to 42 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: me is that the Prime Minister then had an interview 43 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: with Mike Hosking the following week and was asked repeatedly 44 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: whether he would have sacked you had you not resigned, 45 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: and he refused to actually say that for about three minutes, 46 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: which suggests he knew that there was no formal complaint. 47 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 2: No, I don't think that's correct either. I think he 48 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 2: was acting. I offered my resignation, he accepted it, and 49 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 2: he made a decision on my offer, and rightly or wrongly, 50 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 2: I shouldn't have offered that resignation if I'd known what 51 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 2: was the situation at the time, if I'd known what 52 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 2: I know now, I wouldn't have offered it. So I 53 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 2: think he was trying to look after me. I don't 54 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 2: blame the Prime Minister. I don't blame on his staff. 55 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 2: I think the issue is that we were all working 56 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 2: off the same information, some of which was incorrect. 57 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, is this a political stitch up from the 58 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: other side, given that Labor found out about this pretty quickly? 59 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,519 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it certainly got leaped as I understand, to 60 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 2: Labor pretty quickly, and that obviously had a bit of 61 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 2: a bearing on the decision making process. But you know, 62 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 2: that's politics. As you know, that we all acted in 63 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 2: a sort of a weird environment. But you know that 64 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 2: that wasn't one of the decision That wasn't a key 65 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 2: determined in my decision making. It was the fact that 66 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 2: someone said that all three corroborated the allegation, and that 67 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 2: wasn't the case. 68 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: So what is it that you want? Look, I. 69 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 2: Would obviously love to be a minister minister and you 70 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 2: serve at the pleasure of prime minister. But the main 71 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 2: thing for me is I want people to know that 72 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 2: if I had known what I knew now, I wouldn't 73 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 2: have resigned. I shouldn't have resigned, but I did. I 74 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 2: did it in a principal manner, and now that other 75 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 2: information has come to light, I just want people to 76 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 2: know what the real situation is. And you know, you 77 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 2: spend your lifetime trying to build up a reputation and 78 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 2: to see it taken down in a six minute meeting, 79 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 2: which is how long the meeting was, it's pretty devastating. 80 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: Did the DIA stit you up? Do you think? 81 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 2: Look, I don't think they conduct themselves with sufficient professionalism 82 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,799 Speaker 2: to get to the right outcome and the right information. 83 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 2: The information that led me to start pursuing this course 84 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 2: even became available on the morning of my resignation when 85 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 2: I rang the person the mail who I put my 86 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 2: hand on in an encouraging way. He told me when 87 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 2: I rang him that he had not made the allegation, 88 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 2: which was a stabbing sort of revelation just before I'm 89 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 2: going out to say that I'm going to resign as 90 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 2: a minister becauxcep to. Then I assumed, in thought and 91 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 2: been led to believe that he was the complainant, and 92 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 2: he told me quite clearly he wasn't the complainant and 93 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 2: wouldn't have complained, which was a stepping statement to make. 94 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,599 Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, Andrew, good on you for doing this. Takes 95 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: a bit of courage to do it, so I hope, 96 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: I hope you do manage to clear your name. That's 97 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,679 Speaker 1: Andrew Bailey National Amped. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen 98 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: Drive listen live to news talks. It'd be from four 99 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.