Ray Chung

Rayward Chung 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 and again in the 2025 election, having also stood unsuccessfully for mayor both years.

Early life and career Ray Chung grew up in Wellington's Te Aro suburb in a Chinese New Zealander family of nine children. 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.

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.

2025 election campaign

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. 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. 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. 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.

In May 2024, Chung confirmed that he would be running for the Mayor of Wellington at the 2025 Wellington mayoral election.

In October 2025, Chung lost the 2025 Wellington mayoral election to former Labour Party leader Andrew Little.

July 2025 email controversy 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. 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. 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. 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.

Chung described Whanau's release of the email as a "blatant political attack". 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." In addition, five Independent Together candidates Phil McConchie, Mike Petrie, Melissa Moore, Rebecca Shepherd and Lily Brown withdrew from the ticket.

Second term, 2025–present In November 2025, Mayor Andrew Little appointed Chung as chair of the council-controlled organisations committee. The four Green-aligned councillors criticised Chung's nomination due to his smear campaign against the previous Mayor Whanau but agreed to support Little's nomination in the "interests of being constructive partners."

In late November 2025, Chung joined Little, the Labour-aligned councillors and independent conservatives in voting to review the contentious Golden Mile pedestrianisation project for three to six months. The motion passed by a margin of 12 to 4 votes, with the Green councillors opposing it.

On 18 May 2026, Chung resigned as a chair and member of the Council Controlled Organisations subcommittee to focus on constituents in his own ward. He was succeeded by Rebecca Matthews in that role.

Personal life Chung lives in Broadmeadows with his wife, two dogs and a cat.

Electoral history Wellington City Council 2025 Wharangi/Onslow-Western general ward election