Ray Chung | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Wharangi/Onslow-Western general ward councillor | |
| Assumed office 15 October 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1949or1950(age 75–76) [1] |
| Political party | Independent Together |
Rayward Chung [2] is a New Zealand politician. He was elected to the Wellington City Council as a councillor for the Wharangi/Onslow-Western general ward at the 2022 election, [3] having also stood for mayor that year. [4] He is again standing for mayor in the 2025 local election. [5]
Ray Chung grew up in Wellington's Te Aro suburb in a Chinese New Zealander family of nine children. [3] [6] His maternal grandfather migrated from Zengcheng,China in 1895,followed by his wife (Chung’s grandmother) in 1915,and settled down in Wellington. His mother was born in Wellington in 1917,while his father migrated from China in 1920 at the age of 17. They owned a herbalist business near their home on Jessie Street. [6]
Chung worked for Telecom New Zealand,building and maintaining telephone exchanges. He later studied business at Massey University,graduating with a Bachelor's degree in commerce and later a diploma in international business. [6] After graduating,Chung worked as an engineer and a salesman. [3] Chung later worked for several international telecommunications and technology companies including Siemens,Hansaluftbild,Trimble Inc., [4] the Andrew Corporation,Graseby Goring-Kerr,and Ericsson. [2] Chung also lived in the United States,Sweden,Germany and the United Kingdom. [2] He credited his time in Munster with inspiring his interest in local government politics and civics. [3]
Chung ran as a councillor for the Wellington City Council during the 2016 and 2019 local body elections. [5] He co-founded the Onslow Residents and Community Association (ORCA) in 2017,serving as Vice-President for at least two terms. [6] [2] [4] ORCA lobbied for the Greater Wellington Regional Council to install more lamp posts and bus stops in the suburbs of Broadmeadows,Khandallah and Kaiwharawhara. [6] [4]
During the 2019 Wellington City Council election,Chung campaigned on reducing rates and council spending,opposed housing intensification,and advocated greater Council transparency in dealings with private interests. [6]
During the 2022 Wellington City Council election,Chung was elected as the councillor for the Wharangi/Onslow-Western general ward. [3] He also ran for the position of Mayor of Wellington,coming fourth place with 12,670 votes. [7] [8]
In December 2024,Chung and fellow councillors Tony Randle and Nicola Young voted against the Wellington City Council's motion opposing the ACT party's Treaty Principles Bill. Chung filed a code of conduct complaint against Cr Teri O'Neill after she accused them of espousing anti-Māori racism in their objections to the motion. [9]
In mid April 2024, Chung co-founded a centre-right electoral ticket called Independent Together, which campaigned on a platform of zero rates increases, cutting council expenditure and reinstating lost car parks. Chung stood as both a councillor and mayoral candidate. [10] [11] Chung has also opposed the Wellington City Council providing social housing (regarding it as a central government responsibility) and advocated reducing the number of cycleways in the Wellington CBD. [12] In response, Mayor of Wellington Tory Whanau defended the council's rate increases as a response to decades of "under-investment" in public infrastructure and utilities. [13] Chung has positioned himself as a pro-business candidate who would not raise council rates, claiming that his opponents Whanau and former Labour cabinet minister Andrew Little would raise taxes and council spending. [14] [15]
In May 2024, Chung confirmed that he would be running for the Mayor of Wellington at the 2025 Wellington mayoral election. [5] On 6 June 2025, Chung formally launched his mayoral campaign. Though Chung ruled out cutting "core council services" such as parks, swimming pools, libraries, community facilities, he indicated he was open to slashing Council staff numbers including its climate change team. [16] [17]
On 11 July 2025, Radio New Zealand reported that Chung had shared in 2023 an email with three other councillors about an alleged sexual encounter between mayor Tory Whanau and a third party. Chung said he had no idea if the rumour was true but found it "interesting" so shared it without fact checking. [18] [19] The three councillors that received the email were Tony Randle, Nicola Young and John Apanowicz. Young described the email as "unwise and tawdry" at the time while Randle did not believe the email ruled out Chung as a candidate. Apanowicz said he did not recall receiving the email, but that the rumours about mayor Whanau "upset" him. [19]
The Mayor's Office confirmed Whanau had provided the controversial email to media, [20] and Whanau herself later revealed she had been in possession of the email for a few months; following the dossier and rumours about her being spread online by Graham Bloxham, another mayoral candidate, she felt it appropriate to share the email publicly. [21] Whanau released a public statement, condemning the email and saying she was seeking legal advice against both Chung and Bloxham, for spreading "malicious, sexist rumours" over the course of her term. [22]
Chung described Whanau's release of the email as a "blatant political attack". [20] Following the email's release, The Post revealed that Chung had been urged by members of IT to step back from the campaign out of concern for his mental wellbeing. [23] A representative for Better Wellington claimed Chung had been receiving abusive late night phone calls which had left him exhausted and was the reason he "sometimes talks waffle." [23]
Following the email, Chung initially said he would not apologise to Whanau as the email was never intended for her, [19] and because "she had never apologised to him", including over an incident two years prior when she chose not to give him proxy votes at a Local Government NZ conference. [23] Chung later backtracked and apologised to Whanau via a video statement and an email. [20] Chung's 2023 email was condemned by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins, and Wellington mayoral candidate and former Labour cabinet minister Andrew Little. [24] [18] In addition, the philanthropist Mark Dunajtschik, who had previously supported the Independent Together campaign financially, withdrew his support following the email controversy. [25] In addition, five Independent Together candidates Phil McConchie, Mike Petrie, Melissa Moore, Rebecca Shepherd and Lily Brown withdrew from the ticket. [26]
Chung lives in Broadmeadows with his wife, two dogs and a cat. [2] [27]