Sexualised gossip and rumour about Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau goes beyond the tawdry email circulated by Wellington mayoral hopeful Ray Chung. David Fisher reports.
Warning: Disturbing content
Video has emerged of Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson discussing a sexual rumour involving Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau.
The recording of Williamson, obtained by the Herald, features the Howick ward councillor saying he had been told “by someone who I trust that Tory Whanau was giving a blow job”.
The comments were made during an Auckland Council committee meeting on November 30, 2023, to which Williamson was connected remotely.
Whanau, who has no objection to the Herald publishing the video as an example of the abuse she faces, said Williamson’s comments “make me feel sick”.
“It seems to be these older, weird creepy men who speak about me but also others like that. This sexualisation of women in leadership roles is purely intended to dehumanise and reduce us in terms of character.”
The revelation comes after the Herald obtained an email written by Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung in which he passed on gossip from a neighbour about Whanau having “tempestuous” drug-fuelled sex on New Year’s Eve 2022 and having “soft pendulous breasts”.
This new rumour, like the New Year’s Eve gossip, was not true, said Whanau, and was equally able to be proven false.
She said the rumours were part of highly-sexualised dialogue aimed at her – and other female politicians – to demean them and undermine their roles.
Williamson’s comment was captured on the official Auckland Council recording but never made public.
The Herald has obtained the key section, in which Williamson makes reference to Whanau allegedly performing a sex act.
He has been approached for comment but is yet to respond.
The video did not capture the beginning of Williamson’s comments because of meeting business, and the end of his comments were indistinct because fellow councillors were trying to shout the former National MP down.
As Williamson continued to speak, somebody at the meeting shouted: “Maurice, Maurice, you better belt up mate”.
Independent Māori Statutory Board deputy chairman Tau Henare, who sat in Cabinet as a minister alongside Williamson in the late 90s, can be heard immediately calling a point of order.
“I actually think you should sanction that outburst. We don’t have to sit here and listen to [video cuts off].”
Williamson’s comments appear to stem from a rumour that ran rampant in late 2023 after Whanau admitted to drinking too much on November 18 at Wellington’s Havana Bar.
She later said she had a drinking problem for which she would seek help.
A rumour emerged on social media claiming a recording existed of Whanau carrying out a lewd act while at the bar.
Whanau always maintained the rumour was false, yet it persisted despite 10 witnesses and a bar manager also saying it was false.
Whanau said oppressive sexualised commentary about women leaders has increased in recent years. She said former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, Green MP Tamatha Paul, former Labour Cabinet minister Kiritapu Allan, former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman and Auckland councillor Julie Fairey and others have been targeted.
“I’m a woman in leadership, I’m progressive. I want the best for my community and I have the policies to deliver that. So what do these weird men do? They assassinate your character instead.”
Whanau said for two years she has had to put up with people calling her “c***sucker” and saying “she’s probably in the toilets giving another blow job”.
She said Williamson phoned her at the time to apologise, but it seemed “disingenuous”. She claims he talked over her and didn’t tell her who he had gossiped with.
“He didn’t actually let me speak,” she said.
Whanau said she was seeking legal advice on potential action against “anyone who has helped push any of those false rumours about me” – but wanted a long-term solution.
She said part of the problem was social media sites reducing content moderation and community guidelines.
“We need to look at social media reform regulation, we need to look at the Harmful Digital Communications Act – is it strong enough? We need to look at hate speech legislation.”
Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa ward councillor Julie Fairey was at the meeting in 2023.
When Williamson started speaking, she said: “I started making a lot of noise trying to drown it out so it’s not on the recording because I knew we would then be publishing something untrue and vile and possibly defamatory.”
Fairey said the comments made her feel sick. “A lot of us were in shock. It was completely unacceptable.” She said afterwards she needed to walk off the adrenaline.
When Auckland Council was asked for the full video it declined, saying the section in which Williamson’s comments were made “contained inappropriate and offensive content and did not relate to the business of the meeting”.
It withheld that section of the video to protect privacy and maintain “effective conduct of public affairs” by protecting officials and others from “improper pressure or harassment”.
The council said Williamson “made the comment to someone outside the meeting” and did not realise he wasn’t on mute. After he made the comment, a council staff member placed his connection on mute.
Councillor Richard Hills, chairman of the meeting, ruled Williamson withdraw his remarks and apologise and asked councillors to stop discussing the matter. He also asked the council chief executive to review the incident.
A council spokeswoman said they found “no further action was appropriate because a direct apology, verbal and in private, was given soon after the incident and Mayor Whanau, through her office, had advised that she did not seek any further action be taken”.
The spokeswoman said training was now provided for online meetings.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.