Home Affairs Minister Juan Watterson has escaped with a firm warning as to his future conduct, after a drunken episode at the end of last week, which saw him vomit on a bus.

Chief Minister Allan Bell says he has explained the seriousness of the situation to the youngest member of his ministerial team, who has responsibility for the government's Drug and Alcohol Strategy.

Mr Bell says 'the lapse' was particularly unfortunate as, earlier the same day, Mr Watterson had given a warning to people not to over do it, in terms of alcohol consumption, during the festive period.

He says it was all very disappointing, but he didn't consider sacking him (listen to audio file):

Yesterday (Wednesday), Mr Watterson issued a public apology, saying he was highly embarrassed by what happened.

He said what he did was stupid and unacceptable, and he was a young man who had learned a hard lesson.