Andrew Little has appointed Ray Chung to head an important Wellington City Council committee.
We don't think he should be doing that. If you agree, please tell him so.
Here's how.
The email will open in your email program of choice. Feel very free to modify it and add your own voice. Make sure to add your own subject line!
His email addresses are currently:
Mayoral.Meetings@wcc.govt.nz
Here's some suggested text. Please feel free to modify this and make it your own:
Kia ora Andrew Little,
I wish to express my immense disappointment in your appointment of Ray Chung to the role of chair of the CCO Review and Appointments subcommittee.
This decision shows enormous disrespect for women in Wellington who have watched in horror as Ray Chung’s campaign of sexual harassment of Mayor Tory Whanau was revealed.
That you knew that Ray Chung shared sexual and salacious gossip about a woman he worked with and still believed he should be in control of recommending appointments to boards shows abysmal judgment. It’s a slap in the face to all of those who tried to get justice for the mayor and Wahine Māori going into politics.
Ray Chung’s behaviour is not just an attempt to smear a political opponent. It was a gendered disinformation campaign.
“Gendered disinformation” is the deliberate spread of false or misleading narratives that target women because of their gender, often using sexualised tropes to discredit their competence and legitimacy as leaders. While not a form of gender-based violence in itself, it fuels such violence by weaponising online abuse and mobilising racist misogynist outrage. These campaigns are a structural expression of patriarchal power, enforcing the message that women who step into public life will be punished for doing so.
The campaign Chung instigated and fostered against Tory Whanau exemplified this pattern. It fused racism and misogyny to humiliate and discredit her, whipping up a strom of online violence that ultimately drove her from political life.
When this kind of behaviour is categorised as merely “toxic” it obscures the gendered and racist nature of the abuse. It shapes who feels safe to lead, distorts democratic participation and rewards those who stand to again from the harm it causes.
Appointing Ray Chung to a leadership position such as this risks legitimising that harm.
It tells the women of Wellington, particularly wahine Māori, that sexist and racist attacks on their character carry no real consequence.
You have rewarded his misogyny and racism.
We urge you to reconsider this appointment and to demonstrate through action that your stated commitment to rejecting “toxic behaviour” is not merely rhetorical. This is a moment to lead with integrity, to name gendered disinformation for what it is, and to ensure that those who weaponise it are not rewarded with more power.
We await your response. This is a time for courage in leadership not a time of committing to an Old Boys Club mentality.
We hope you will not let down those women who voted for you and those women who hoped you’d show integrity in your mayoralty.
Ngā mihi,