In Government, 2014–2017
Bayly was elected to Parliament at the 2014 general election, as the National MP for Hunua with a majority of 17,376 votes. [5] [15] He replaced Paul Hutchison who retired. He had the fourth highest majority of all electorate seats in New Zealand. During the 51st New Zealand Parliament, Bayly served as a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee, as deputy chair of the Regulations Review Committee, and as chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee. [5]
In September 2016, Bayly proposed a private member's bill to Parliament that would give landlords more power to test and remedy their rental properties of dangerous levels of methamphetamine contamination. The bill would have placed an obligation on the landlord to provide rental accommodation free of methamphetamine contamination while giving them more power to confront the problem in their properties. [16] While it was not selected for introduction, a similar bill was introduced by the National Government in 2017 [17] and was later passed unanimously by Parliament under the Labour Government in 2019. [18]
Bayly also successfully steered the Arbitration Amendment Bill through Parliament which passed through the House unanimously and which significantly enhanced arbitration proceedings and how they are conducted in New Zealand. [19]
In Opposition, 2017–2023
At the 2017 general election, Bayly retained Hunua by a margin of 19,443 votes. [20] However, National did not win the election. Bayly held various party spokesperson roles under National's four leadership configurations that term. These included building regulation under Bill English; revenue, building and construction under Simon Bridges; revenue, commerce, and state-owned enterprises under Todd Muller and Judith Collins. He was also an associate finance spokesperson under the final three leaders. [21] In the 2017–2020 term, Bayly continued as a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee. [21]
In September 2019, Bayly was ejected from Parliament for attempting to disrupt Parliamentary proceedings during his questioning of Housing Minister Megan Woods about the Ihumātao dispute. [22]
For the 2020 general election, Bayly's electorate of Hunua was disestablished. A new electorate, Port Waikato, comprising part of the old Hunua electorate and part of the old Waikato electorate, was created. Bayly contested Port Waikato and was re-elected by a margin of 4,313 votes. [23]
Bayly was regarded as a "close ally" to National leader Judith Collins. [24] [25] When she reshuffled her shadow cabinet on 11 November 2020 and promoted Bayly to third rank with the positions of shadow treasurer (senior to the finance spokesperson Michael Woodhouse) and National Party spokesperson for infrastructure and statistics. [26] This was a promotion of 14 places in National's shadow cabinet, and Bayly was described by reporters as the "big winner" in the reshuffle, but also as "relatively unknown" and "little-known". [26] [27] [28] Some media comment focussed on Bayly's title of shadow treasurer, despite there being no person in the Government with the role of Treasurer to shadow, although Collins suggested re-establishing that role if National were to win the next general election. [29] Bayly was given responsibility for revenue policy, budget preparation and review, monetary policy, KiwiSaver and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. [30] However, Bayly was criticised for being "invisible" and ineffective. [25] [31]
On 10 November 2021, the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income (Fair Residency) Amendment Bill was passed. This was a member's bill in Bayly’s name, although it had been introduced by former New Zealand First MP Mark Patterson in the previous term of Parliament. [32] The bill changes the criteria for New Zealand superannuation so that older migrants, and New Zealanders who spent large portions of their lives overseas, must wait longer to qualify. [33]
Following the appointment of Christopher Luxon as party leader on 30 November 2021 and a subsequent reshuffle of the shadow cabinet in early December, Bayly was demoted to 15th position and given responsibility for revenue, small business, commerce and consumer affairs, building and construction, and manufacturing. [34]
In Government, 2023–present
Bayly contested Port Waikato in the October 2023 general election, but the electorate vote was postponed to a by-election in November after another candidate died. In the interim, Bayly was elected as a list MP. He won the by-election with a margin of 11,432 votes over New Zealand First candidate Casey Costello. [35] [36]
In the Sixth National Government, which formed during the by-election period, Bayly was appointed as a minister outside Cabinet with responsibility for commerce and consumer affairs, statistics, and small business and manufacturing. [37]
In October 2024 Bayly apologised after telling a worker at an export business he had visited to "take some wine and fuck off", and calling him a "loser". The worker wrote a formal letter of complaint after the incident. Bayly described his behaviour at the visit as "unbecoming of a government minister", and denied being intoxicated. [38] [39]
Following a cabinet reshuffle on 19 January 2025, Bayly became the Minister responsible for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). [40]
In February 2025, Bayly resigned as a Minister after an "animated discussion" where he placed his hand on a staff member's upper arm. [2] [3] [4] He issued a public apology for his actions. [3] Bayly's commerce and ACC portfolios were assumed by fellow National MP Scott Simpson. [2] While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon defended the National Party's handling of the incident, Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised Luxon's perceived slow response to an earlier bullying incident in 2024. [3] [4]
