Isn't it remarkable that a private email sent by Ray Chung over two and a half years ago is dominating national headlines? The Prime Minister is weighing in, the Porirua Mayor threw in her two cents, and the media are frothing at the mouth. Not a single one of them seems remotely interested in why the email was written in the first place.
Ray Chung's email wasn’t some random rant. It was about an infamous incident in Havana Bar, where Tory Whanau, the Mayor of Wellington, allegedly performed a public sex act. An elected official allegedly engaging in lewd behaviour in a bar. That’s just the tip of the ice berg though. Her track record of drunken abuse towards hospitality staff and patrons is well documented. She even left The Old Quarter on Dixon Street without paying her bill.
This is not some rumour mill nonsense. Whanau’s out-of-control antics have been plastered across Facebook groups like Wellington Live and Vic Deals. Her behaviour was so widely publicised and impossible to ignore that by November 2023, she finally had to admit she had a drinking problem. In her own words, she was "greatly embarrassed and ashamed" that her drunkenness was being recorded. Yet somehow, we’re supposed to believe it's out of bounds to question what she might’ve done while completely sloshed, including the alleged sex act, which she has notably never denied.
Instead of taking accountability and stepping down, Whanau played the sympathy card. “Leadership positions in public office are not built for regular people who may have struggles with addiction,” she said. That may be true, but leadership positions also aren’t built for people who can’t go out in public without humiliating themselves and their city.
The only commendable thing Tory Whanau has done is seek help. That doesn’t erase the fact she has no business holding office. Any serious politician would have resigned. She didn’t.
The reaction from the left has been painfully predictable. Misogyny. Sexism. Racism. The usual deflections trotted out anytime someone calls Whanau to account. It’s not misogynistic to call out disgraceful public behaviour. It’s not sexist to say a mayor shouldn’t be abusing staff, skipping out on bills, or drunkenly stumbling through the streets while holding the keys to the city.
Tory Whanau is not a victim. She is a walking advertisement for why we need higher standards in public office. She is the worst mayor Wellington has seen in modern times, a national embarrassment, and Wellingtonians should be mortified they ever put her in the mayoral chains.
The media can run distraction campaigns all they want. The public deserves to remember what this is really about: a mayor whose behaviour is so far below the standard of public office that it's beyond parody.
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