Ray Chung finally apologises to mayor Tory Whanau for lewd email

Sunday, 13 July 2025

Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung has finally apologised to mayor Tory Whanau after a curious series of back-and-forths on whether he would indeed say sorry.

A recently surfaced early-2023 email from Chung to council colleagues talked about Whanau's alleged “night of debauchery” 2½ years ago.

The email came to light after Whanau – who only recently got a copy of the email – released it.

Whanau on Monday afternoon confirmed Chung had now apologised via email. It was for Chung to make public if he chose to, she said.

Whanau said she released the email “to speak publicly and take a stand against unethical and dirty politics because our city deserves elected members who uphold the highest standards of respect, honesty, and integrity”.

It came in the same week The Post revealed people linked to Chung’s campaign had compiled a dossier on Labour-aligned council candidates ‒ labelling mask-wearers “Covidians,” slamming candidates’ partners, and painting pro-Māori views as extremist.

The double hit saw philanthropist and developer Sir Mark Dunajtschik pull his support from Chung’s campaign.

Chung was late last week telling some media he was happy to apologise to Whanau, but told The Post he didn’t see why he should due to embarrassment he said Whanau caused him at a conference a couple of years back.

But, by Sunday morning, Chung said he had scripted an “unequivocal apology” to Whanau and he should have never sent the email.

The eventual message had no direct references to Whanau.

“Over the last week there's been a concerted campaign against me and my bid for the Wellington mayoralty,” he began.

He claimed he was victim of a “blatant political attack”, done deliberately to discredit him.

Of the email, Chung said: “I regret writing it and I regret sharing it with people whom I thought trustworthy”.

“I have not and will not conduct personal attacks against other candidates … I will play the ball, not the person.

“Dirty politics will not be tolerated. I will call it out.”

Earlier, Chung told The Post he planned to issue his apology as a video late on Sunday morning. He had hoped to do it earlier but said he started recording the video on Saturday evening and the lights were too yellow. Whanau said she had not heard directly from Chung.

However, on Sunday afternoon, Chung stopped answering his phone and a representative, Rhonda Fitzpatrick, texted to say she had taken over media requests for Chung.

She too did not answer calls but could not say when the promised apology would be released.

Alistair Boyce of Better Wellington, which is behind the Chung campaign, said the video apology was still being edited about 3pm on Sunday.

Whanau said it was “disappointing” Chung and the Better Wellington team had not learned from the incident.

“It’s also important to emphasise that this poor behaviour has not occurred in isolation,” she said.

She asked for councillors, lobby groups, mayoral candidates and the media to create a respectful environment.

“Those who wish to stand for public office, particularly women and Māori, deserve this. Our constituents deserve this too.”

Chung’s January 2023 email to councillors Nicola Young, Tony Randle and John Apanowicz said he had met a neighbour, who relayed the story to him about how his son was allegedly picked up by a woman at a bar.

Whanau said there was no truth to the email and she had been with diplomats, an MP, and about 10 friends on the night in question.

Despite a horror week for Chung, not all of his backers were pulling support.

“Ray is a very honest, upfront, hard-working politician and deserves continued support,” retired lawyer John Swan said

Jeremy Smith, who is listed as a Better Wellington supporter on the group’s website, said he signed up for the group and went to the Independent Together launch but “I never ended up backing them”. The group’s ideas were “brilliant” but the execution would be “more challenging', he said.

Rex Nicholls, listed as a Better Wellington supporter on its website, only found out about his apparent support when contacted by The Post on Sunday. His support had been for Independent Together when it was focused on running for council seats as opposed to mayor.

But after IT fired a capable woman running the group, “I thought, ‘bugger that, I’m no longer interested’.

“It has become a mayoral campaign for Ray,” Nicholls said.