Chung vs Whanau: The week local politics got ‘dirty’
Saturday, 12 July 2025
Dirty politics, it seems, is officially in play in the Wellington local body elections, with accusations flying in all directions.
The release of an email penned by mayoral candidate Ray Chung - detailing second-hand allegations about current mayor Tory Whanau being involved in a “night of debauchery to be remembered”, including 'tempestuous sex” and talk of drugs - ignited a furore on Friday.
Whanau said there was no truth to the “malicious and sexist” claims, sent to councillors John Apanowicz, Tony Randle and Nicola Young in early 2023. On the night in question, she had been with diplomats, an MP, and about 10 friends, she said.
“Despite enduring a constant stream of false and malicious rumours this entire term, I’ve chosen to stay focused on our city’s progress,” Whanau said.
“But politics has changed. My previous campaign saw friendly candidates and no dirty politics. Now, for some candidates, it seems to be the norm.”
It was the second time this week allegations about her personal life had been made public.
Whanau confirmed to The Post she was was considering legal action over “harmful, false” comments another mayoral and council candidate, Graham Bloxham, made about her online.
Bloxham posted about Whanau on his LinkedIn account on Monday, referencing rumours from 2023. He then also posted a story on the Wellington Live social media, which he remains the front person for, but claims to no longer own.
“I think it’s creepy and weird and certainly it is no behaviour for a mayoral candidate,” Whanau said.
As well as legal action, she said she was looking at options under the Harmful Digital Communications Act and was meeting council safety staff to consider options to ban him from the council building.
“Our city deserves elected members who uphold the highest standards of respect, honesty and integrity. That’s why I’m speaking up about these rumours now.
“Such tactics are designed to dehumanise others, wear us down, and hope that dedicated people like me won’t stand for election again.”
Bloxham did not directly address the claims in his response, but said he’d be “happy to to meet Tory to discuss all this”.
“Wellington is turning to the truth and transparency going forward,” he concluded.
Chung confirmed to The Post he sent the email, but said he was merely passing on information he heard from a neighbour while out walking his dogs.
He would not apologise to Whanau, as she had never apologised to him, he said.
“You can’t change anything that happened two years ago. It was a different world then. “I was six weeks into being a councillor [and heard the gossip] so I passed it on to my colleagues.”
Alistair Boyce, from the group Better Wellington, which is behind Chung’s Independent Together ticket, said there was “no doubt” the campaign had taken a hit from the email and was a concern.
Boyce defended Chung, saying he was a “very open and honest” person. Better Wellington neither endorsed Chung’s email nor condemned it.
It was naive to write it in its entirety with its graphic content and share it, Boyce said, but he was “merely relaying what a constituent had relayed to him”.
“It probably would have been much wiser not to put that in writing, but he obviously felt he could trust his fellow councillors.”
The true story, he claimed, was the “dirty politics” of the recipient, who had held on to the email and leaked it to media in an obvious bid to derail Chung’s campaign.
Better Wellington recently posted on social media that it knew who had leaked the email, but Boyce denied knowing who it was.
The organisation also posted a poll on its social media on Friday for followers to vote for which of the three recipients they believed had leaked the email.
The fallout has already cost the team a high-profile supporter.
Philanthropist and developer Sir Mark Dunajtschik, who attended Chung’s campaign launch, said he was disappointed by recent media reports about “dirty politics”.
“I do not support that behaviour nor will I support any candidates who engage in it,” he said. “I urge all candidates to engage in a clean campaign and address the important and urgent issues facing the city. They should play the ball not the person.”
Chung said he had left a message with Dunajtschik, “but he hasn’t called back”. He was not aware of any other backers withdrawing their support.
He said another backer ‒ who he would not name ‒ promised to make up for any lost donations as a result of the turmoil. He understood Independent Together had raised close to $300,000.
On Wednesday, The Post reported an Independent Together-linked group was behind a bizarre attempt at opposition research on Labour-aligned candidates for the local body elections ‒ labelling mask-wearers “Covidians,” slamming candidates’ partners, and painting pro-Māori views as extremist.
Better Wellington confirmed it commissioned research ahead of the October vote. But Boyce distanced the group from the document, saying the researcher went rogue and strayed beyond the agreed remit.
Chung on Thursday said he had never seen, nor had knowledge of, the dossier.
“I reject any and all of the spurious accusations in The Post that I, or the team of independent candidates with whom I am proud to stand, are behind it.”
Boyce also said he had not seen a copy of the report but did confirm that Better Wellington commissioned the research.
“It was sort of open research in regard to political events and local body politics,” Boyce told The Post.
“We commissioned that guy on a very low retainer, and he went out there and provided us information on various things, and then he sort of went mad …”
At the first mayoral debate of the campaign, Independent Together candidate Lily Brown was also accused of misrepresenting a statement by Labour’s mayoral candidate Andrew Little.