New Zealand PM floats privacy laws after staffer accused of filming women

New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is seen at Hyde Park Corner in London, U.K., Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) (Kin Cheung/AP)

Wellington, New Zealand -- New Zealand’s prime minister floated new privacy laws on Thursday after his own press secretary was allegedly caught taping sex workers without consent.

Senior aide Michael Forbes resigned after a local news outlet alleged he covertly recorded audio of sessions with sex workers and secretly photographed women at the gym.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was “shocked” -- but it was unclear whether Forbes had broken the law.

“If you’re a New Zealander you ask quite legitimate questions about how does this behaviour happen, and is it legal or illegal,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“I have that same reaction to it as well.”

Luxon flagged new privacy laws could be drafted to clear up the legal grey area.

Forbes -- who was Luxon’s deputy chief press secretary -- apologized in a statement sent to media.

“I want to offer my sincerest apologies to the women I have harmed,” he said.

The scandal came to light after a sex worker noticed Forbes’s phone was recording audio while he took a shower, according to an investigation published Wednesday by New Zealand news outlet Stuff.

Forbes phone was then found to contain photos of women in compromising positions at the gym, and a video shot through a window showing women getting dressed at night, Stuff reported.

“In the past, I was in a downward spiral due to unresolved trauma and stress, and when confronted with the impacts of my behaviour a year ago, I sought professional help, which is something I wish I had done much earlier,” Forbes said in a statement.

“What I failed to do then was make a genuine attempt to apologize.”

By Ben Strang, AFP