Some mayors do ‘ave 'em: Rogue councillors and how city leaders handle them
Monday, 6 July 2026
He left an open line to a blogger during a confidential session. He wrote of the nature of the mayor’s breasts. He, allegedly, failed to declare a conflict of interest and his pecuniary interest declaration was like a jigsaw with the side pieces missing.
Wellington City councillor Ray Chung’s latest controversy about what he did or didn’t do during a recently storm-related state of emergency, aspects of which he queries, places him in a tradition of councillors leaving the city’s mayors in a “what-the-heck-to-do” quagmire.
Dame Kerry Prendergast had issues with councillor Rob Goulden, while Justin Lester’s spat with Simon Woolf was well-known – albeit to a far lesser than the Chung or Goulden situations.
Dunedin mayor Sophie Barker in May announced councillor Benedict Ong was suspended from all committees and subcommittees for nine months after a investigation confirmed he posted confidential information on social media.
Read more:
Capital of calm: Why has Wellington had so few states of emergency?
In pictures: The damage wrought by the wild Wellington weather
Family cut off by swollen stream after damaging storm, ‘ghosted’ by authorities
It was the latest in a string of incidents and Ong now faces another code of conduct investigation, again for allegedly passing on confidential information, Stuff reported.
Barker told The Post that other than “wet bus tickets” – such as sending Ong a letter or asking him to resign – measures available to the council were “quite toothless”.
Internal correspondence released by the Wellington City Council underlines this.
Mayor Andrew Little – a former union leader and employment lawyer – wrote to council chief executive Matt Prosser asking for clarity on April 23, saying he believed the code of conduct process was warranted, after Chung allegedly inserted himself into a search for a man missing in flood waters against police and staff urging.
“As part of that I advice I am seeking guidance about all potential responses available to me or council should a breach of the code be formally confirmed,” Little wrote.
The released documents show Prosser got his chief of staff and general counsel to prepare advice - but the advice was not released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act. The council said it was held due being legally privileged.
Little concluded Chung’s version of events was “shifting, evasive and fundamentally contradictory”, while police said he was making a 'nuisance' of himself. He was removed from chairing a subcommittee as a result.
Otago University law professor and electoral law expert Andrew Geddis said elected members could only be disqualified from office if found guilty of voting or taking part in a council decision in which they had a financial interest, had a contract with the council worth more than $25,000 in a financial year, were no longer a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, or had a conviction for a crime that could lead to two or more years in prison.
To recap Chung’s alleged and actual indiscretions: He was one of five councillors investigated for leaking details of the controversial Reading property deal last term though no leaker was identified. Then a lewd email he wrote about an alleged debauched night had by mayor Tory Whanau, in which he mentioned her “soft pendulous” breasts, was released by Whanau.
This term he had to amend his pecuniary interests after The Post found he incorrectly claimed voting rights in a while omitting a company in which he holds a stake, then The Herald reported he was pulled up by Little after voting for a grant that included money towards his great-niece’s poetry publication.
Then the now-infamous search and demotion.
Lester, mayor from 2016 to 2019, said mayors had no choice who they got elected to work with and often had to work with councillors who had shot and missed for the top job. (On this council, three councillors including Chung shot for the mayoralty).
“Some don’t handle loss well and wake up every morning thinking, ‘why can’t I be the mayor’,” Lester said.
“Ray falls squarely in that camp.
“It takes a lot of diplomacy and skill to keep the group together and focused, which Andrew is clearly demonstrating.”
Prendergast did not want to weigh back into the Goulden debate on Friday. During her time as mayor, she said some staff would not meet with Goulden one-on-one and some councillors were concerned by “his increasingly erratic behaviour and his mood swings”.
He was reportedly ejected from council meetings for calling the chairperson thick and the mayor “stupid”. In 2004 he was censured for breaching the council's code, and in 2005 was accused of “haranguing, bullying and intimidating” a council tip booth attendant. In June 2009 he was escorted from a council meeting by police after a foul-mouthed tirade. Goulden vigorously denies much of this.
Chung did not return multiple calls for comment but did, by text, address issues resulting from the council information release.
He denied he spread misinformation, that he used a “secret number” to call the search coordinator, that he was asked to leave the search area, and that he was there to search for missing man Philip Sutton.