September 24, 2025 • 20 mins
Wellington City Councillor Ray Chung joined Nick Mils to discuss his second run for mayor in this year's Local Body Elections.
He discussed his 0% rates rise policy, and the recent release of a controversial email he sent to fellow councillors in 2023.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Said, B Well, we're continuing our series chatting to the
main maoral candidates ahead of the local body elections, joining
us this morning and taking your calls. As current City
Council of Ray Hung, who's running for mayor for a
second time. I didn't realize.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good morning, right, Thanks very much for inviting me on
this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I didn't think you've had run before. You did run
before you.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I ran before, Yes and yes, And the reason why
I ran was because the people that were helping me
with my campaign recommended me to.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right, Let's start with the elephant in the room, the email. Yep, sure,
what have you learnt since it first came out? What
have you do? You know why it was sent out,
who sent it out? When it was sent out?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yes, I do, and what I've learned from it? The
key learning from that was that never ever write anything down,
never ever send anything out on emails. Because I talk
to the three before I sent it out and they said,
we can't keep up with all of us, send it
to us.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Right. Do you know who gave it to toy?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yes I do? Yeah, who I believe that what happened
was that they wanted they wanted something to use and
so then so who sent it to toy? My understanding
is that it was given to Ben McNaughty, and Ben
McNaughty took it off Johnna Panovitch, So JOHNA. Panovitch still
(01:40):
had a copy of it, and so he sent it on.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So Ben sent it to to Tory.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And then Tory sent it to Neil Jones, and then
Neil Jones sent it to Andrew Little and so they
decided to use it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So things changed dramatically. I mean, you were front runner.
People were talking about you, very positive about you, the
change that we needed. All of a sudden you hit
a war.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yes, a bit of a consonant, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And it was, And I need to remind our listeners
this is that that email was sent in your first
two weeks of being a counselor yp correct, So you
really didn't have a clue what was right and what
was wrong. You had a new job and you had
this information. You weren't sure what to do with it,
so you sent it to three people that you thought
(02:30):
would help you with your decision making.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Absolutely, and this is how.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
It's in here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Prior to that, we have initiation and so we have presentations,
and one of the presentations said that always be careful
about what you say and what you do, because you
don't ever want to put the counsel into bad light.
You don't ever want to embarrass them, and so just
be careful what you do. So that's why I was
cautious and very cautious about it. And I need to ask,
(02:57):
you know, these people that have known for the three
counselors that I've known for a long long time, what
should I do with this?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
People politically call it the labor and Green mafia. Do
you think the labor and Green mafia did a hit
job on it?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I believe so, yes, Otherwise why would have come up
after you know so long they actually went to look
for information?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And do you think that's put you in a precarious
situation right now?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It certainly hasn't helped. It certainly hasn't helped.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I mean it has definitely changed things for you.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yes, Yes, I still get comments back and people asking
me about why did you see in the emails? So
I try, I try and explain so and I tried
and explain that this is only weeks after we were elected.
It was all brand new tours. Being in council was
very very different to being in a company and so
so many rules and regulations and things that you can
(03:54):
do can't do so and you know, levels of behavior.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Who do you most feel let down by that whole saga?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
My colleagues who so definitely John A. Panovich who gave
the email Nikolae Young for her part in it. Tony
was is very supportive. There were three that received it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Let's move on the poles yep.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Curier poll came out September the third third, thirteen percent
behind Andrew Little on thirty percent.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yes, I'm disappointing, but I think that it's not endemic
of of what I actually the feedback that I actually
receive when I'm out there door knocking and talking to
people at the I've been to twenty seven meet the
Candidate evenings and so I'm getting a lot of support
from from many of them. So it's not actually showing,
but you know who knows its certainly not a good
(04:55):
sign and a big big four from where I was previously.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
How can you turn it round? With two weeks to go?
What can you do? I mean the poles that you know,
the Q and A one had you, you know, miles behind.
I mean, everyone, what's got you behind? Now? What can
you do?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I'm really the only thing I can do well, The
only thing I feel like I need to keep doing
is keep reiterating the issues, keep reiterating what people are
telling me. Keep reiterating that the city is unaffordable. We
need to do something about that. We need to get
more people back in the city. We need to get
the population up, we need to get people wanting to
come to Wellington. So these are the things, These are
(05:29):
the important things that I'm actually doing.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Will you be business friendly? Will you be the guy
that actually will help generate business? And by the way,
everybody before, no, you answer that first? Sorry?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yep, sure absolutely. I hear lots of stories. People tell me,
lots of things about different things. One example is Duly
Moore from more Wilson's, just up the road from here,
and she said she looked at expanding more Wilson's. She
wanted to hold up grandiose plans for doing it. Been
buying up property around this area and so went to
the council with the plans and said this is what
(06:00):
I would like to do. This is what I'm going
to do to expand the area, have a really really
big center center. And then the council said, okay, so
what we would like you to do on these plans
is we'd like you to put a coffee bar on
this corner here, We'd like you to put a little
restaurant in here, and we'd like you to do this.
And she said, well, hang on a minute. I'm the retailer.
I'm the expert in what happens here. Now, why are
you telling me what I need to do? And so
(06:22):
then so she went away from that meeting and came back,
and then a very very short time later, the council
announced that they're going to close off Tory Street. And
she said, what, that's where my customers come from. That's
how they come and access some more Wilson's how are
they going to get here if if we close off
the street. So she says that the city council is
definitely not business friendly. They don't understand what the issues
(06:45):
are with businesses.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So we get Julie's story, and that's pretty out there.
Is there other stories like that? You're hearing from business
people that want to do. Developments who want to do
something for the city to make the city better, but
the council has prevented them from doing that.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Many many retailers, Nichola Cranfield, do you know, Nicholas, She
had Cranfield Old Jewelry, a sort of gift shop and
on the streets down by that, that's right, yep, And
she had you know, the council officers weren't I guess
they weren't considering her situation and what she actually needs
(07:21):
to get customers. And she has customers. She has a
huge statabase of customers. Now, they come down from the
Capity Coast, they come over from the wire Rapper and
so of course when they come here, they need to
place the park so they can go to the store.
But they've taken away all the car parks and so
there were no place to park, so many roadworks in there,
so it was disturbing people coming in. So her business
just dropped from there. So she was trying to get
(07:44):
people to understand that these are the situations that we
actually need to actually have to run our businesses to
actually get people in here. And so but they're they're
not listening.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Zero rate rises Yep, you and I both know that's impossible.
That's not going to happen. And experts around the country
says say, any one that's standing to be mayor or
a counselor that says there's going to be zero rate rises,
don't vote for them.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Okay, then might say that, but my feeling is that, yes,
it is possible.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And what you can. You can sit here and tell
me that if you have become mayor, you will next
year Wellington will have zero rate rises.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The first year would be harder because remember we've only
got half a year to actually build it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Well, you just told me that you could.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yes, I believe that we can, and we're going to
keep trying to do it. A little while ago, Louis
Tong from Infratio did a presentation at Vision for Wellington.
She identified two point eight billion dollars with a savings
that the council could actually mate without effecting court services
and core business. So we're only taking it.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So what are you going to drop? What are you
going to drop? Tell me that what you are going
to drop?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Okay. The big elephant in the room is of course,
our social housing that's going to cost a billion dollars
over the long term plan of the next nine years,
and so that is something that needs to go back
to governor government. The central government has actually already seed
themselves that councils are not in the business of providing housing.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
But that's under contract. Me and you both know that
our listeners know that's under contract. Do you believe that
you can go to the beehive and say, okay, I'm
mister Chung and I don't want these housing you pay
you buy the more Wellington City Council. You believe that
can happen.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I'm certain that they will talk to me, and I'm
certain that they will look at the situation because of
course it fits what they've actually said themselves. But I understand,
I do understand that they have no money as well.
So but I'm sure that we can come to come
to some agreement. You can only solve things.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So you're going to cut Okay, we've got social housing
out bo that's that's a great saving and we both
agree on that one. So what else is being right?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
The golden mile? I think that by large golden gone
my lunch time. I've talked to businesses in Courtney Place,
not in Courtnet place, but Lampta key Willa Street nobody
wants it and so but the council will pushing through it.
So that will that will go right right? Organic waste
that is being sold on a press that I don't
believe is actually valid.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
But it's getting built. It's too late. You can't stop that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
No organic waste the net ever started yet. But the
slud the sludge plant, I can talk about that as well,
the sludge plant. What we seem to do in council
was that we always seem to go for the gold
plated solutions. Now that the sludge plant was going to
be two hundred million dollars a huge amount of money,
but there were other cheaper options. There are other options
that have been tested, tried and tested, you know, for
(10:32):
eighty million dollars less than eighty million dollars sixty million dollars,
But the Council didn't go for those. Instead, we chose
this solution that had never been done in New Zealand before,
never been built in New Zealand before, So of course
that comes with huge risks. So did they consider those
and so now we're up to half a billion dollars
for that because of all the cross over runs.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well we're too late to stop that, yep. So what
else are you going to stop? What else?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You keep cutting out the cycle lanes, the one hundred
and seven.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Cycle wanes under you.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
We would look at where the cycle lanes are going.
On a cyclist myself and loved riding around the bays,
you know, great cycle lane lanes around the bays, But.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Would you cut any that have already been done?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
The glen Wall Street one is my first as first
on my target, because so many people have received more
complaints from people about the glen Wall Street one than
any other cyclane. And so what they're saying is that
they can't access the botanic gardens because the cyclane there.
And I've gone down to look at it myself, because
I don't just accept information and data that council office
(11:29):
has given me, but I like to look at it myself.
So I've been down to Glenmore Street between seven and
nine o'clock on a Monday and a Thursday to count
the number of cyclists that actually use it. So and
I've also gone back at between four o'clock and six
o'clock to count the ones that use it going home.
So in the middle of those numbers in the morning
on Monday and Thursday, none, not one single one. Every
(11:52):
single cyclist came down the road. And the reason is
easy to understand. The reason is that they can actually
travel down Glenmore Street as fast as any cars, so
they can move with the same speed, so there's no issues,
there's no reason to actually use that.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
All right, we've got a caller, Ted, good morning, you
have a question for Rachel.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Good morning, Racheon, sir, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Good morning? Thank you.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I wish you all the very best in your.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Application to become Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Have you considered in your your manifesto as one way
of reducing rates could well be in the removal of
the regional council.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's actually been discussed, but it's not in my manifesto.
That is a is a very very big issue that
needs a lot more look into.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
You know, it's interesting, Ray, I'm glad that Ted brought
that up, because you know amalgamation, which your thought on
amalgamation in general.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I don't believe that amalgamation is a panacea for solving problems,
for solving the costs and increasing efficiencies. And I can
give you lots of examples that look at Wellington Water,
look at the Great willing Reach Council for example. But
again in my experience that when a large company takes
over smaller companies or amalgamates with them, the one, whether
(13:16):
the partner or the least again is the largest partner.
The ones with the most again are the smallest partners.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I in any amalgamation, So the idea of lower
upper hut Potator and Wellington doesn't appeal to you as
one one amalgamation.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
It's worth looking at, but it doesn't appeal to me
at the moment. I need more proof that it will
aashually work and wild actually benefit willing Tony is because
that's the main thing.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Couldn't you amalgamate? One of the mood of the boardroom
survey that's just come out the last twenty four hours
suggests that we could actually combine city councils with regional councils.
Surely with amalgamation you could put all that in one
basket and save a hell of a lot of money.
And that's your name of your game, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Absolutely, but I need to be sure that it will
actually save us money because sometimes when you'll malgamate things,
it may not necessarily save money, it may not necessarily
become more efficient.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
If you've just joined the show, where talking to Raid Chung,
who's on this Wellington City Council. He's a current city
councilor going for to trying to be mayor on October
the twelfth, which is coming up so damn quickly, and
we're taking calls for him. Josh, Josh, good morning, you've
got a call for question for rach Hunt.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Good morning, Hi, Ray. Just want to let you know
I've already voted.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
For you, mate, Thanks so much, Josh, much appreciated.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
That's cool. I just want to hear a little bit
more of a chat really, no specific questions. No, I
think you're going to be the best guy for the job.
That's why I voted for you. And thanks for doing
the work that you do. When I saw the recent
character assassination attempt, that only made me want to vote
for you more.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
That thing for much Josh, Yeah there, Okay, we'll go
to go to Billy. Billy, you have a question for
rach Hunt.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
Yeah, good morning, Ray, Good morning, Billy.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Are you I'm good?
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Just a quick one. Give them the polls, and the
way it's looking is that you're going to mess out
to little Evan having the likes of you and Calvert
and Tip and Backer. Thought, you know, what's the point
in all running and splitting the vote if you thought
about trying to come up a plan where you just
endorse one of you t on top for a little that way.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yes, Carl and I have talked about that extensively, and
what we said that we don't know who people want
to vote for, but what we would like is for
you to vote for one of us as number one
and the other one is number two or number three
if that's your preference, but definitely put one of us
down as number two or three, so that way, if
(15:38):
one of us drops out, then the vote is not wasted.
But we have talked about that.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yes, could you work with Andrew Little.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
He has a different, very different policy to mine, and
I feel that he would be bad for Wellington because
he would want to keep spending money, and of course
that is an ethanomer to what I actually believe. I
believe that we have to the city is now unaffordable
and to make it affordable again, we actually need to
stop spending and so I'm not sure that it would
(16:08):
do so, yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I think that do you think that you if you
became mayor on the twelfth, on that Monday morning, do
you reckon that you would go into head office and
look around and say, gosh, I reckon I could cut this?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yes, yes I do.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And do you think you would do that?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yes, I'm absolutely positive I would do. Because you've always
got to not just look at the qualities and the
experience that the candice had, but you've got to look
at the intent. So what is the main intent of
actually being in there? And my intent is completely unambiguous.
People know that I'm out there to cut costs. I'm
out there to look at every penny. Look at my
voting record. You can actually see that this is what
(16:48):
I've done all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
We've just got a text that's just come in and
ask you where you stand on congestion charging.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I don't mind congestion charges because I've been in Singapore
and i've been in London and I think that they
work very well there. However, the difference in Wellington is
that you've got to have exemptions because if you look
at the way well And is built, you have any
traffic coming from the north going to the airport. Do
you want to be charging people for going to the
airport if they're just passing through, But if they're coming
(17:15):
into the CBD, then maybe, But you've got to allow
for the people that are just passing through.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Explain to our listeners that don't understand independent together.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Right, Independent together. We talked about that a lot, about
more than a year ago, I think about May last year.
And so what we said was that we look at
the independence on Council in this term and we haven't
been able to do anything. We haven't been there. Typically
there's only four of us that work together, and so
we haven't been able to make any changes. We haven't
been able to stop some of the excesses of spending.
(17:47):
And so to do that, the only way you can
do it is by having a greater represent representation of
the council.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Right, we're running out of time. There's a couple of
things that I want to get your thoughts on. Golden
Miles out gone, yep, gone by lunchtime on your first
day city to see Bridge, staying staying Mala Falat.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
You voted for it, I've wote it for it, but
there's still a lot of conditions on there. They don't
have any funding at the moment, so what all we
approved was to actually give them a lease so that
they can actually start fundraising and borrowing money.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Now, in under thirty seconds, explain to me, looking me
straight in the eye, why I should vote for you, Nick.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I have extensive business experience, and so I understand money.
I understand fiscal responsibility always been ingrained to me. I
have extensive experience and infrastructure. I've worked on there for
two decades. I am absolutely determined to listen to everybody.
I run constituent meetings all the time. I listen to
anyone who wants to talk to me, and I'll try
and help them. And so I'm very much for people.
(18:51):
I work on consensus. I believe in working together. I
loved listening to other people's opinions, even if they differ
from my own. I'm open to everyone.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Are you a good listener?
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I believe I am.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So people knock on your door, you will listen to them.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
So let's get some things straight. Golden Mile Gone Social Housing.
You're going to look at it strongly. You don't believe
that Wellington City Council should be looking after social housing.
It should be a government thing. Is I agreed? If
I got that right?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
I agree, absolutely believe in social housing and it's needed,
but I don't believe we should be running it.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Okay, And you're going to cut costs at l way and.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yes, I've already identified seventy million dollars worth the cost
that we can actually cut out things that we're doing
that I don't believe necessary.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
And and you're going to have zero rate rises in
your first year as Maya.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Wanting to that is my target.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Wow, would you get my vote if you could promise
me that? Thanks n If you could promise me that,
But I don't believe you can. I'm sorry, I don't
want to try.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I'm gonna try.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I don't think anyone can promise you zero rate increases
with the world as our Ray Jung or the very best.
Thank you for coming in, ladies and gentlemen. You can
actually watch that. It's recorded and it'll be on our
Facebook page, website, the south Tonon as soon as Adam
can get it onto it. So thanks very much for
coming in and all the very best.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
N for more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen
live to news talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Said, B Well, we're continuing our series chatting to the
main maoral candidates ahead of the local body elections, joining
us this morning and taking your calls. As current City
Council of Ray Hung, who's running for mayor for a
second time. I didn't realize.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good morning, right, Thanks very much for inviting me on
this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I didn't think you've had run before. You did run
before you.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I ran before, Yes and yes, And the reason why
I ran was because the people that were helping me
with my campaign recommended me to.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Right, Let's start with the elephant in the room, the email. Yep, sure,
what have you learnt since it first came out? What
have you do? You know why it was sent out,
who sent it out? When it was sent out?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yes, I do, and what I've learned from it? The
key learning from that was that never ever write anything down,
never ever send anything out on emails. Because I talk
to the three before I sent it out and they said,
we can't keep up with all of us, send it
to us.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Right. Do you know who gave it to toy?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yes I do? Yeah, who I believe that what happened
was that they wanted they wanted something to use and
so then so who sent it to toy? My understanding
is that it was given to Ben McNaughty, and Ben
McNaughty took it off Johnna Panovitch, So JOHNA. Panovitch still
(01:40):
had a copy of it, and so he sent it on.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So Ben sent it to to Tory.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
And then Tory sent it to Neil Jones, and then
Neil Jones sent it to Andrew Little and so they
decided to use it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So things changed dramatically. I mean, you were front runner.
People were talking about you, very positive about you, the
change that we needed. All of a sudden you hit
a war.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yes, a bit of a consonant, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And it was, And I need to remind our listeners
this is that that email was sent in your first
two weeks of being a counselor yp correct, So you
really didn't have a clue what was right and what
was wrong. You had a new job and you had
this information. You weren't sure what to do with it,
so you sent it to three people that you thought
(02:30):
would help you with your decision making.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Absolutely, and this is how.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
It's in here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Prior to that, we have initiation and so we have presentations,
and one of the presentations said that always be careful
about what you say and what you do, because you
don't ever want to put the counsel into bad light.
You don't ever want to embarrass them, and so just
be careful what you do. So that's why I was
cautious and very cautious about it. And I need to ask,
(02:57):
you know, these people that have known for the three
counselors that I've known for a long long time, what
should I do with this?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
People politically call it the labor and Green mafia. Do
you think the labor and Green mafia did a hit
job on it?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I believe so, yes, Otherwise why would have come up
after you know so long they actually went to look
for information?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And do you think that's put you in a precarious
situation right now?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It certainly hasn't helped. It certainly hasn't helped.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I mean it has definitely changed things for you.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yes, Yes, I still get comments back and people asking
me about why did you see in the emails? So
I try, I try and explain so and I tried
and explain that this is only weeks after we were elected.
It was all brand new tours. Being in council was
very very different to being in a company and so
so many rules and regulations and things that you can
(03:54):
do can't do so and you know, levels of behavior.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Who do you most feel let down by that whole saga?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
My colleagues who so definitely John A. Panovich who gave
the email Nikolae Young for her part in it. Tony
was is very supportive. There were three that received it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Let's move on the poles yep.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Curier poll came out September the third third, thirteen percent
behind Andrew Little on thirty percent.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yes, I'm disappointing, but I think that it's not endemic
of of what I actually the feedback that I actually
receive when I'm out there door knocking and talking to
people at the I've been to twenty seven meet the
Candidate evenings and so I'm getting a lot of support
from from many of them. So it's not actually showing,
but you know who knows its certainly not a good
(04:55):
sign and a big big four from where I was previously.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
How can you turn it round? With two weeks to go?
What can you do? I mean the poles that you know,
the Q and A one had you, you know, miles behind.
I mean, everyone, what's got you behind? Now? What can
you do?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I'm really the only thing I can do well, The
only thing I feel like I need to keep doing
is keep reiterating the issues, keep reiterating what people are
telling me. Keep reiterating that the city is unaffordable. We
need to do something about that. We need to get
more people back in the city. We need to get
the population up, we need to get people wanting to
come to Wellington. So these are the things, These are
(05:29):
the important things that I'm actually doing.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Will you be business friendly? Will you be the guy
that actually will help generate business? And by the way,
everybody before, no, you answer that first? Sorry?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yep, sure absolutely. I hear lots of stories. People tell me,
lots of things about different things. One example is Duly
Moore from more Wilson's, just up the road from here,
and she said she looked at expanding more Wilson's. She
wanted to hold up grandiose plans for doing it. Been
buying up property around this area and so went to
the council with the plans and said this is what
(06:00):
I would like to do. This is what I'm going
to do to expand the area, have a really really
big center center. And then the council said, okay, so
what we would like you to do on these plans
is we'd like you to put a coffee bar on
this corner here, We'd like you to put a little
restaurant in here, and we'd like you to do this.
And she said, well, hang on a minute. I'm the retailer.
I'm the expert in what happens here. Now, why are
you telling me what I need to do? And so
(06:22):
then so she went away from that meeting and came back,
and then a very very short time later, the council
announced that they're going to close off Tory Street. And
she said, what, that's where my customers come from. That's
how they come and access some more Wilson's how are
they going to get here if if we close off
the street. So she says that the city council is
definitely not business friendly. They don't understand what the issues
(06:45):
are with businesses.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So we get Julie's story, and that's pretty out there.
Is there other stories like that? You're hearing from business
people that want to do. Developments who want to do
something for the city to make the city better, but
the council has prevented them from doing that.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Many many retailers, Nichola Cranfield, do you know, Nicholas, She
had Cranfield Old Jewelry, a sort of gift shop and
on the streets down by that, that's right, yep, And
she had you know, the council officers weren't I guess
they weren't considering her situation and what she actually needs
(07:21):
to get customers. And she has customers. She has a
huge statabase of customers. Now, they come down from the
Capity Coast, they come over from the wire Rapper and
so of course when they come here, they need to
place the park so they can go to the store.
But they've taken away all the car parks and so
there were no place to park, so many roadworks in there,
so it was disturbing people coming in. So her business
just dropped from there. So she was trying to get
(07:44):
people to understand that these are the situations that we
actually need to actually have to run our businesses to
actually get people in here. And so but they're they're
not listening.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Zero rate rises Yep, you and I both know that's impossible.
That's not going to happen. And experts around the country
says say, any one that's standing to be mayor or
a counselor that says there's going to be zero rate rises,
don't vote for them.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Okay, then might say that, but my feeling is that, yes,
it is possible.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And what you can. You can sit here and tell
me that if you have become mayor, you will next
year Wellington will have zero rate rises.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The first year would be harder because remember we've only
got half a year to actually build it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Well, you just told me that you could.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yes, I believe that we can, and we're going to
keep trying to do it. A little while ago, Louis
Tong from Infratio did a presentation at Vision for Wellington.
She identified two point eight billion dollars with a savings
that the council could actually mate without effecting court services
and core business. So we're only taking it.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So what are you going to drop? What are you
going to drop? Tell me that what you are going
to drop?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Okay. The big elephant in the room is of course,
our social housing that's going to cost a billion dollars
over the long term plan of the next nine years,
and so that is something that needs to go back
to governor government. The central government has actually already seed
themselves that councils are not in the business of providing housing.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
But that's under contract. Me and you both know that
our listeners know that's under contract. Do you believe that
you can go to the beehive and say, okay, I'm
mister Chung and I don't want these housing you pay
you buy the more Wellington City Council. You believe that
can happen.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I'm certain that they will talk to me, and I'm
certain that they will look at the situation because of
course it fits what they've actually said themselves. But I understand,
I do understand that they have no money as well.
So but I'm sure that we can come to come
to some agreement. You can only solve things.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So you're going to cut Okay, we've got social housing
out bo that's that's a great saving and we both
agree on that one. So what else is being right?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
The golden mile? I think that by large golden gone
my lunch time. I've talked to businesses in Courtney Place,
not in Courtnet place, but Lampta key Willa Street nobody
wants it and so but the council will pushing through it.
So that will that will go right right? Organic waste
that is being sold on a press that I don't
believe is actually valid.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
But it's getting built. It's too late. You can't stop that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
No organic waste the net ever started yet. But the
slud the sludge plant, I can talk about that as well,
the sludge plant. What we seem to do in council
was that we always seem to go for the gold
plated solutions. Now that the sludge plant was going to
be two hundred million dollars a huge amount of money,
but there were other cheaper options. There are other options
that have been tested, tried and tested, you know, for
(10:32):
eighty million dollars less than eighty million dollars sixty million dollars,
But the Council didn't go for those. Instead, we chose
this solution that had never been done in New Zealand before,
never been built in New Zealand before, So of course
that comes with huge risks. So did they consider those
and so now we're up to half a billion dollars
for that because of all the cross over runs.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well we're too late to stop that, yep. So what
else are you going to stop? What else?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
You keep cutting out the cycle lanes, the one hundred
and seven.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Cycle wanes under you.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
We would look at where the cycle lanes are going.
On a cyclist myself and loved riding around the bays,
you know, great cycle lane lanes around the bays, But.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Would you cut any that have already been done?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
The glen Wall Street one is my first as first
on my target, because so many people have received more
complaints from people about the glen Wall Street one than
any other cyclane. And so what they're saying is that
they can't access the botanic gardens because the cyclane there.
And I've gone down to look at it myself, because
I don't just accept information and data that council office
(11:29):
has given me, but I like to look at it myself.
So I've been down to Glenmore Street between seven and
nine o'clock on a Monday and a Thursday to count
the number of cyclists that actually use it. So and
I've also gone back at between four o'clock and six
o'clock to count the ones that use it going home.
So in the middle of those numbers in the morning
on Monday and Thursday, none, not one single one. Every
(11:52):
single cyclist came down the road. And the reason is
easy to understand. The reason is that they can actually
travel down Glenmore Street as fast as any cars, so
they can move with the same speed, so there's no issues,
there's no reason to actually use that.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
All right, we've got a caller, Ted, good morning, you
have a question for Rachel.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Good morning, Racheon, sir, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Good morning? Thank you.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I wish you all the very best in your.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Application to become Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Have you considered in your your manifesto as one way
of reducing rates could well be in the removal of
the regional council.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's actually been discussed, but it's not in my manifesto.
That is a is a very very big issue that
needs a lot more look into.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
You know, it's interesting, Ray, I'm glad that Ted brought
that up, because you know amalgamation, which your thought on
amalgamation in general.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I don't believe that amalgamation is a panacea for solving problems,
for solving the costs and increasing efficiencies. And I can
give you lots of examples that look at Wellington Water,
look at the Great willing Reach Council for example. But
again in my experience that when a large company takes
over smaller companies or amalgamates with them, the one, whether
(13:16):
the partner or the least again is the largest partner.
The ones with the most again are the smallest partners.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I in any amalgamation, So the idea of lower
upper hut Potator and Wellington doesn't appeal to you as
one one amalgamation.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
It's worth looking at, but it doesn't appeal to me
at the moment. I need more proof that it will
aashually work and wild actually benefit willing Tony is because
that's the main thing.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Couldn't you amalgamate? One of the mood of the boardroom
survey that's just come out the last twenty four hours
suggests that we could actually combine city councils with regional councils.
Surely with amalgamation you could put all that in one
basket and save a hell of a lot of money.
And that's your name of your game, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Absolutely, but I need to be sure that it will
actually save us money because sometimes when you'll malgamate things,
it may not necessarily save money, it may not necessarily
become more efficient.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
If you've just joined the show, where talking to Raid Chung,
who's on this Wellington City Council. He's a current city
councilor going for to trying to be mayor on October
the twelfth, which is coming up so damn quickly, and
we're taking calls for him. Josh, Josh, good morning, you've
got a call for question for rach Hunt.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Good morning, Hi, Ray. Just want to let you know
I've already voted.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
For you, mate, Thanks so much, Josh, much appreciated.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
That's cool. I just want to hear a little bit
more of a chat really, no specific questions. No, I
think you're going to be the best guy for the job.
That's why I voted for you. And thanks for doing
the work that you do. When I saw the recent
character assassination attempt, that only made me want to vote
for you more.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
That thing for much Josh, Yeah there, Okay, we'll go
to go to Billy. Billy, you have a question for
rach Hunt.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
Yeah, good morning, Ray, Good morning, Billy.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Are you I'm good?
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Just a quick one. Give them the polls, and the
way it's looking is that you're going to mess out
to little Evan having the likes of you and Calvert
and Tip and Backer. Thought, you know, what's the point
in all running and splitting the vote if you thought
about trying to come up a plan where you just
endorse one of you t on top for a little that way.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yes, Carl and I have talked about that extensively, and
what we said that we don't know who people want
to vote for, but what we would like is for
you to vote for one of us as number one
and the other one is number two or number three
if that's your preference, but definitely put one of us
down as number two or three, so that way, if
(15:38):
one of us drops out, then the vote is not wasted.
But we have talked about that.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yes, could you work with Andrew Little.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
He has a different, very different policy to mine, and
I feel that he would be bad for Wellington because
he would want to keep spending money, and of course
that is an ethanomer to what I actually believe. I
believe that we have to the city is now unaffordable
and to make it affordable again, we actually need to
stop spending and so I'm not sure that it would
(16:08):
do so, yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I think that do you think that you if you
became mayor on the twelfth, on that Monday morning, do
you reckon that you would go into head office and
look around and say, gosh, I reckon I could cut this?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yes, yes I do.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And do you think you would do that?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yes, I'm absolutely positive I would do. Because you've always
got to not just look at the qualities and the
experience that the candice had, but you've got to look
at the intent. So what is the main intent of
actually being in there? And my intent is completely unambiguous.
People know that I'm out there to cut costs. I'm
out there to look at every penny. Look at my
voting record. You can actually see that this is what
(16:48):
I've done all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
We've just got a text that's just come in and
ask you where you stand on congestion charging.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I don't mind congestion charges because I've been in Singapore
and i've been in London and I think that they
work very well there. However, the difference in Wellington is
that you've got to have exemptions because if you look
at the way well And is built, you have any
traffic coming from the north going to the airport. Do
you want to be charging people for going to the
airport if they're just passing through, But if they're coming
(17:15):
into the CBD, then maybe, But you've got to allow
for the people that are just passing through.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Explain to our listeners that don't understand independent together.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Right, Independent together. We talked about that a lot, about
more than a year ago, I think about May last year.
And so what we said was that we look at
the independence on Council in this term and we haven't
been able to do anything. We haven't been there. Typically
there's only four of us that work together, and so
we haven't been able to make any changes. We haven't
been able to stop some of the excesses of spending.
(17:47):
And so to do that, the only way you can
do it is by having a greater represent representation of
the council.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Right, we're running out of time. There's a couple of
things that I want to get your thoughts on. Golden
Miles out gone, yep, gone by lunchtime on your first
day city to see Bridge, staying staying Mala Falat.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
You voted for it, I've wote it for it, but
there's still a lot of conditions on there. They don't
have any funding at the moment, so what all we
approved was to actually give them a lease so that
they can actually start fundraising and borrowing money.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Now, in under thirty seconds, explain to me, looking me
straight in the eye, why I should vote for you, Nick.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I have extensive business experience, and so I understand money.
I understand fiscal responsibility always been ingrained to me. I
have extensive experience and infrastructure. I've worked on there for
two decades. I am absolutely determined to listen to everybody.
I run constituent meetings all the time. I listen to
anyone who wants to talk to me, and I'll try
and help them. And so I'm very much for people.
(18:51):
I work on consensus. I believe in working together. I
loved listening to other people's opinions, even if they differ
from my own. I'm open to everyone.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Are you a good listener?
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I believe I am.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So people knock on your door, you will listen to them.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
So let's get some things straight. Golden Mile Gone Social Housing.
You're going to look at it strongly. You don't believe
that Wellington City Council should be looking after social housing.
It should be a government thing. Is I agreed? If
I got that right?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
I agree, absolutely believe in social housing and it's needed,
but I don't believe we should be running it.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Okay, And you're going to cut costs at l way and.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yes, I've already identified seventy million dollars worth the cost
that we can actually cut out things that we're doing
that I don't believe necessary.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
And and you're going to have zero rate rises in
your first year as Maya.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Wanting to that is my target.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Wow, would you get my vote if you could promise
me that? Thanks n If you could promise me that,
But I don't believe you can. I'm sorry, I don't
want to try.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I'm gonna try.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I don't think anyone can promise you zero rate increases
with the world as our Ray Jung or the very best.
Thank you for coming in, ladies and gentlemen. You can
actually watch that. It's recorded and it'll be on our
Facebook page, website, the south Tonon as soon as Adam
can get it onto it. So thanks very much for
coming in and all the very best.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
N for more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen
live to news talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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