Chung's non-apology deepens storm over sexist smear campaign
No apology, no accountability
Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung is facing a growing backlash after failing to deliver a promised apology over a degrading email he sent about current mayor Tory Whanau. Chung claimed over the weekend he had scripted an 'unequivocal apology' for the 2023 email in which he circulated a second-hand rumour describing Whanau's supposed 'night of debauchery'. Instead, last night he published a video statement alleging the email leak was part of a 'concerted campaign' to discredit him. In the video, Chung said he regretted writing the email and sharing it 'with people whom I thought trustworthy'.
As reported by Tom Hunt in the Weekend Post (paywalled), Chung had at one point told the paper he didn't see why he should apologise at all, 'due to embarrassment he said Whanau caused him at a conference a couple of years back'. Whanau says she is yet to hear from Chung directly following the email revelation. It's fair to say that for many, his dithering, tin-eared response has only reinforced the original offence, and the perception that he's unfit for leadership.
Whanau considers legal action over smear campaign
The mayor, meanwhile, has signalled she is no longer willing to stay silent. In a detailed public statement, Whanau said she is seeking legal advice over what she called a campaign of 'malicious, sexist rumours' spread by both Chung and fellow mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham. 'Throughout this term, I've endured a constant stream of false and malicious rumours,' she wrote. 'I've chosen to stay focused on our city's progress and ignore this behaviour – until now.'
Whanau's legal threats could encompass action under the Harmful Digital Communications Act and potentially a trespass order against Bloxham, who posted about her on LinkedIn and the Wellington Live platform which he is still fronting, though he now claims not to own it. 'These lies often start online, but their impact in real life can be devastating,' Whanau wrote. 'They are a tactic designed to dehumanise, wear people down, and discourage good people from standing for public office.'
'Trump without the tactics'
Chung's email scandal is just the latest in a long list of controversies. In a blistering Windbag column published in The Spinoff this morning, Joel MacManus argues that the councillor had disgraced himself long before the Whanau email surfaced. Chung has been accused by colleagues of making wildly inappropriate comments in the council offices, including a grotesque remark about a deceased young man and repeated verbal abuse directed at Whanau. He has compared council sustainability efforts to the Cambodian genocide and frequently loses his temper or gets procedural basics wrong in meetings.
'He lacks the intellectual and temperamental qualities that we should expect from our elected officials,' Joel writes. 'Ray Chung is Trump without the tactics. Winston Peters without the wit. Wayne Brown without the brains. The human personification of the angriest and least-informed comment section on Facebook.' Chung, Joel notes, became the default candidate on the right thanks to an aggressive campaign and early fundraising – potentially blocking more competent right-leaning contenders from stepping forward.
Controversy engulfs Independent Together and Better Wellington
The furore around Chung has capped a disastrous 10 days for his campaign ticket Independent Together (IT) and its backer Better Wellington. As The Post's Andrea Vance revealed on Wednesday (paywalled), a Better Wellington–commissioned opposition research dossier labelled one candidate a 'Labour Covidian', mocked others for supporting te reo or climate action, and described a Māori hopeful as 'brazenly and belligerently pro-Māori'. The group later distanced itself from the report, claiming the researcher had gone 'mad'.
Separately, Better Wellington social media accounts mocked councillor Ben McNulty – including references to his children – and boosted an attack from IT candidate Lily Brown, who misrepresented mayor frontrunner Andrew Little's remarks at a mayoral debate. Brown was later forced to issue a clarification. Chung has alternated between disavowing knowledge of these attacks and downplaying their significance. But with legal threats mounting and key financial backer Mark Dunajtschik withdrawing his support, his campaign is flailing. For a group supposedly committed to 'bringing back sanity' to Wellington politics, Independent Together's tactics are suggesting just the opposite.
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