An Oscar winner and big bucks: Better Wellington lifts the lid on its funders
Monday, 15 December 2025
Better Wellington, the controversial group behind the Independent Together group of Wellington City Council candidates, has revealed who its big donors are – including an Oscar winner.
Tory Holdings, which Companies Office information shows is owned by Jamie and Ann Selkirk, was the biggest single contributor with $50,000. Jamie Selkirk, an Oscar winner, is a big figure in the Miramar film empire and The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
The second-largest donation, $35,000, came from a company called “Tirohanga Ltd”. Many companies are listed with variations on the name, but no direct match is listed for a current company.
Philanthropist businessman Sir Mark Dunajtschik, who withdrew his support for the group mid-campaign after a salacious email mayoral-wannabe Ray Chung wrote about Tory Whanau was made public, gave $25,000. All together, Better Wellington received $147,000 in donations.
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Better Wellington found itself in hot water during the campaign including hiring opposition research which mocked the use of te reo and called mask wearers “covidians”; and for its at-times toxic social media slurring rival candidates.
Links were also found between it and conspiracy groups such as Inflection Point and Resistance Kiwi.
Selkirk on Monday told The Post he backed the group early in the campaign, as he wanted to get rid of then-mayor Whanau and get a more independent council, free of party politics.
The stories about the group came out after he gave his donation.
“I thought, ‘oh no, what have I put my money into’,” he said.
During The Post mayoral debate Chung claimed to get a $40,000 donation from businessman Vlad Barbalich. This does not appear in Better Wellington nor Chung’s personal expenses and donations returns.
Under election laws, candidates are required to submit all expenses and donations of more than $1500.
Nine people – Chung, Guy Nunns, Paula Muollo, Michelle McGuire, Ken Ah Kuoi, Stuart Wong, Lily Brown, Dan Milward and Andrea Compton – started out on the Independent Together campaign but the latter three pulled out after a series of controversies.
Only Chung and Compton were elected.
Multiple people marvelled during the campaign about how much Independent Together was spending – with the most obvious signs being large billboards around town – and wondered how it would get in under the spending cap.
Mayoral candidates had a $60,000 spending cap in the three months to the October election. Spending limits are lower for council candidates and are dictated by the population of each ward. Motukairangi/Eastern and Paekawakawa/Southern are $20,000 while the rest are $30,000, with the exception of Te Whanganui-a-Tara which is $14,000.
Better Wellington’s declared expenses show it spent $3258 on Jolly Billboards alone. Jolly billboards The Post is aware of included two on Taranaki St, one on The Terrace, one on Upper Cuba St and a digital one on Adelaide Rd.
By comparison, new mayor Andrew Little had just one, notably smaller billboard by the Basin Reserve for about one month and his expenses show that cost his campaign $1380 plus $207 for installation and removal.
It is not clear if Better Wellington donations and expenses are still to be allocated to Independent Together candidates or if this has already been accounted for in their existing individual returns.
Other notable Better Wellington donations came $10,000 from property developer Craig Walton and his family, via the business BBV Ltd.
Another 10,000 came from The Thorndon Group, owned by Wayne Coffey and a further $10,000, in five $2000 instalments, came from a company directed by developer Eyal Aharoni.