Francesca Rudkin: Wellington deserves better than what we heard from Ray Chung on Friday

On Friday afternoon, when I heard that Ray Chung, Mayoral candidate for Wellington, was going to appear with Ryan Bridge on Newstalk ZB’s Drive to discuss the gossipy email he sent regarding Tory Whanau, I thought good on him for fronting. 

7 minutes and 20 seconds later, I was as speechless as Ryan Bridge. 

What a bumbling, embarrassing trainwreck of an interview. 

First there was the comment it had been a hard couple of days for Ray Chung since the email was publicly released. Well, yes, when you’re running in a local body election and caught spreading salacious gossip it can make for a tough day. But considering Mr Chung had been on the phone since 4am on Friday, and spent the day talking to media about the fiasco, you’d expect him to have crafted a tight message by 5pm. 

I expected him to apologise for spreading gossip, clarify what happened, accept responsibility. You known, to demonstrate some, well, leadership potential. Some mayoral potential. 

I’m a big advocate for voting in local body elections. I want to have a say in who runs my city. I know it’s not the cool thing to do and most people can’t be bothered. But I love and appreciate everything my city has to offer and I want it to be a great and affordable place to live. 

But to get people to vote we need candidates who are articulate, smart, and decisive leaders. We need people who understand the political environment, can work with others, and know how to get things done.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
On Friday afternoon, when I heard that Ray Hung Meryl,
candidate for Wellington, was going to appear with Ryan Bridge
on News Talks Edb's Drive to discuss the gossipy email
he sent regarding Tory Fano, I thought good on him
for fronting. Seven minutes and twenty seconds later, I was
as speechless as Ryan Bridge. What a bumbling, embarrassing train

(00:34):
wreck of an interview. First that there was a comment
that had been a hard couple of days for Ray
since the the email was publicly released. Well, yes, when
you're running in a local body election in court spreading
selicious gossip, it can make for a tough day. But
considering that mister Chung had been on the phone since
four a m. On Friday morning and spent the day
talking to media about the fiasco, you'd expect him to

(00:57):
have crafted a tight message by five pm. I expected
him to apologize for spreading gossip, clarify what happened, accept responsibility,
you know, to demonstrate some well leadership potential, some mayoral potential. Instead,
when asked by Ryan bridge. Why he passed on the
information in the email.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
This is what he said, Well, I didn't know. Well,
what I found was, remember, this is six weeks into council,
six weeks and being there, and the council operates very,
very differently to any organization. So I wanted some advice
from someone that'd been there a bit longer. And so
do it. I mean, this is you know, it is

(01:35):
you know, an issue, and it affects the reputation of
the city. So you know how many people actually know
about this what should actually happen?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
So is that what you asked?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
You asked in the email, you said, I want some
advice on what I should do with this. No, I
told them, no, you didn't remember that you didn't know.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Kind of felt like he was making it up on
the spot. Good God. Look, I'm a big advocate for
voting in local body elections. I want to have a
say and who runs my city. I know it's not
the cool thing to do, and most people can't be bothered,
but I love and appreciate everything my city has to offer,
and I want to be I want it to be
great and an affordable place to live. But to get
people to vote We need candidates who are articulate, smart

(02:16):
and decisive leaders. We need people who understand the political environment,
can work with others and know how to get things done.
Back in twenty twenty two, Wellington City Councilor Iona and
At despaired at how toxic and negative the campaigning was
in that local body election. More recently, Torrifano has called
politics an ugly place. Some of the issues highlighted by

(02:36):
Crown Observer of Wellington City Council Lindsay McKenzie are that
it's an overwhelmed council. There is public criticism by elected
members and dysfunctional relationships. If there was ever a time
Wellington needed a candidate who can convince constituents that they
can as mayor bring this council together and make it function,

(02:57):
then it's now. And yet here we are, ten days
after candidate nominations open for local body elections and the
dirty politics is kicked off. Did Ray Chung write that
email out of genuine concern for his mayor Probably not.
Has the email's release been time to hurt his campaign?
Probably yes. So no one looks particularly great, do they?
Wellington deserves better. This isn't a big enough faux path

(03:21):
for Chunk to take himself out of the race, But
if he's going to continue, can I suggesce. He takes
a simpler approach to dealing with is shoes. When the receipt,
as the kids say these days, is there for all
to see, apologize and take accountability. You don't need to overexplain.
And if you're ever asked whether you've had an orgy,
just say no.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
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