1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:01,480 Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Heather. Right. 2 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 2: So the former minister wanting to clear his name is 3 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 2: Andrew Bailey. 4 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, and I've seen a lot of correspondence between himself, 5 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: a King's Council, the Department of Internal Affairs, and you 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: know a lot of material I've read as a result 7 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: of this, and essentially we were led to believe, and 8 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: certainly Andrew Bailey was led to believe in February that 9 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: he had committed some serious offense in his office in 10 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: terms of grabbing one of his staff members by his 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: upper arm and shaking him. What Bailey would say, and 12 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: I've talked to him this week about it. He says 13 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: that he simply grabbed him of the upper arm and 14 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 1: said we can do this, and he was talking about 15 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: an area of policy. Now, there was never a formal 16 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: complaint laid against Andrew Bailey, never, not one. Did he 17 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: know that, No, he did not know he was led 18 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: was one he was led to believe. And he doesn't 19 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: blame the Prime Minister's chief of Staff, but he was 20 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: led to believe by the chief of Staff that there 21 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: was some serious complaints made against him. And he was 22 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: also led to believe, not by the Chief of staff, 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: but by various letters from the Department of Internal Affairs 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: that in fact it was one against three that three 25 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: people had given essentially the same evidence against him, and 26 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: yet nobody, not one of them, had made a formal complaint. 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: So what Andrew Bailey is saying is that now he 28 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: believes that he offered his resignation too quickly. He did 29 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: have a telephone call with the Prime Minister Chris Luxen 30 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: and with his chief of staff, and he essentially offered 31 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: his own resignation. He said he wasn't pressure to do it. 32 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: He offered his own resignation because he thought he was 33 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: fighting a losing bat. Yea. 34 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 2: He from my understanding, he offered his resignation because he 35 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 2: thought no one would believe his story versus three people. 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 2: It wasn't that he was accepting that he'd done something wrong. 37 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 2: It was just that he thought, I can't win this 38 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 2: pr battle totally. 39 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: And so you know, he really feels misled by the 40 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,799 Speaker 1: Department of Internal Affairs. Certain and how. 41 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 2: Long how many days did this play out over? It 42 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 2: was several days, several days, and over several days, no 43 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 2: one who was dealing with him, from the Prime Minister's 44 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 2: chief of staff to the Department of Internal Affairs, told 45 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 2: him there was no formal complaint, and when he asked 46 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 2: to meet the person he had touched right, thinking that 47 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 2: was the complainant, he was told that person was on 48 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:41,239 Speaker 2: stress leave and he was unable to meet with it. 49 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: That's right, But he did talk to the person. On 50 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: the day he resigned, he talked to the staffer in 51 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: his office, who it was naturally assumed who had complained 52 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: because his upper arm was touched by Bailey and the 53 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: staffer and in the presence of his own senior political 54 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: advisor in the office said to him on a telephone 55 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: call that no, he didn't lodge a complaint, and he 56 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: wouldn't have lodged a complaint. He in fact enjoyed working 57 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: with the ministry in the past few weeks. So he 58 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: was a new appointee to the office. 59 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 2: Barry, if he has been led to believe it's a 60 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 2: very serious situation that requires resignation, and has been led 61 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 2: to believe that there's a full wall complaint and has 62 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 2: been barred from meeting catching up with the person he 63 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 2: believes had complained about him, can you not deduce from 64 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 2: this that he was essentially misled into resigning. 65 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: Oh well, you know, it's hard to escape a conclusion 66 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: like that because. 67 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 2: Because because the thing came after Remember Andrew Bali had 68 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 2: already been in trouble for the loser sign at the VENs, 69 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 2: So this was the second thing that had happened. 70 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: In so final warning basics. 71 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 2: Politically, you could say it would have been easier for 72 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 2: him just to resign to make the issue go away. 73 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: And I think that's what he felt in the end. Anyway, 74 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: he didn't want to embarrass the government, so he decided 75 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: that he would pull up. But what he wants to 76 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: do now, of course, this man has a formidable background 77 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: before he came into politics. What he wants to do 78 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: is clear as name. He said, every time anybody googles 79 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: his name, it comes up that he essentially resigned from 80 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: cabinet under a cloud. Well, there was no cloud really 81 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: to speak of in terms of a complaint, and that's 82 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: the important thing here. 83 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 2: So what does he want? Does he want his job back? 84 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: Well, I think if he was off at his job back, 85 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: I'm sure he would take it. 86 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 2: Well, does he want an investigation? 87 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: Well, in fact, his King's Council asked for an investigation 88 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: of the Commission of the Public Service, Sir Brian Roach. 89 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: But Roach said no, he didn't think it was necessary, 90 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: even though the King's Council said that a case like 91 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 1: this would never stand up in a High Court if 92 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: it got that far if he wanted to fight it. 93 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: So no inquiry. But the Department of Internal Affairs has 94 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: been told, along with other departments, to look at how 95 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: they deal with complaints, and I would imagine to make 96 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: sure that those are who are complained against I know 97 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 1: exactly what the complaint is and whether in fact a 98 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: complaint had been filed. 99 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 2: Have you heard from the Prime Minister's office on this. 100 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: No, I've talked to them, but of course the Prime 101 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: Minister's overseas, so he'll no doubt have something to say. 102 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: I think he's having a news conference around midnight tonight. 103 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to 104 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow 105 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.