Steve Donnelly has banned an entire town from staying at his motel.Credit: Simon Wood/ The Dominion Post
A Sydney man has triggered a rash of anti-Aussie sentiment across the Tasman after banning an entire New Zealand town from staying at his motel.
The Palmerston North motel owner has been labelled "Basil Fawlty" for the ban.
The 16,000 residents of the Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata were slapped with a blanket ban by Palmerston North's Supreme Motor Lodge this week, after a series of misdemeanours by visiting sports teams.
Supreme's owner Steve Donnelly, an Australian, said guests from Wainuiomata were more trouble than they were worth.
"Having had about 100 people from there over the last couple of years and maybe one that we liked ... it is not worth it and we would do the same to anyone who causes us that level of stress."
Sports teams from Wainuiomata High School and the town's indoor sports club were accused of spitting, playing loud music at night, using obscene language and being unruly.
"Everyone there refuses to acknowledge the problem, and accuses the world of being out to get them. I've been there once ... I was surrounded by graffiti, and I thought, 'I don't want to spend much time here.' "
Mr Donnelly said teachers and parents repeatedly failed to keep their charges in check, letting them run wild in the motel's facilities.
Wainuiomata Indoor Sports Club owner Calena Hura denied the accusations and said the motel manager, Malcolm Glen, described on Supreme's website as a "Basil Fawlty" after the John Cleese character had been unprofessional towards the club's indoor netball team from the start.
Wainuiomata High School's touch team was turfed out of the motel two days into its stay, but principal Rob Mill also said the motel manager was to blame.
"They are teenagers, so there is going to be some level of noise. The manager was quite unreasonable and actually quite aggressive."
Motel Association chief executive Michael Baines defended the motel's position, saying sports teams were a motelier's nightmare. "As long as it obeys the law, we would back up any motelier's right to make decisions regarding their business."
Accommodation providers are subject to anti-discrimination laws under the Human Rights Act, but geographical area is not a prohibited ground of discrimination.
STUPID, UNFAIR, OUTRAGEOUS
Prominent Wainuiomata locals have hit back at the motel's move to ban people hailing from their suburb with one even threatening to stay there for a week.
Labour MP Trevor Mallard, born and bred in Wainuiomata, said the move was absolutely outrageous.
"It's stupid and very, very unfair. It shows the sort of blind prejudice I thought we didn't have in New Zealand any more. I'm not surprised the [owner's] Australian."
He questioned the legality of the ban under hotel licensing rules and offered to meet the motel management and work through the issue.
Mr Mallard said Wainuiomata contained a wide range of people, including conservationists and scientists, and had produced some of the country's leading sportsmen.
Former All Black captain Tana Umaga and Wellington Lions captain Piri Weepu both hailed from the 1960s development that came to be known as "Nappy Valley".
Wainuiomata rugby league stalwart and sports commentator Ken Laban said the whole thing was a joke but the hotel owners were cutting themselves out of a market of 16,000 people.
"Give me their number and I'll go and book myself in for a week. I'll be recommending to all my friends that they go and stay there.
"There are some people I know in Wainuiomata I wouldn't have over to stay, but there are more in Khandallah and Ngaio. Wainui is just the tip of the iceberg, you've got dodgy types like Bill English in Karori."
Wainuiomata ward councillor Ray Wallace denied the suburb had an attitude problem and said the community always rallied around people in times of need.
"When we had a fund-raiser for victims of 9/11, Wainuiomata as a single area raised the most money out of the whole country."
The town should not be punished for the actions of "a few young, high-spirited sports players", he said.
Donnelly, for his part, says he's furious that New Zealanders are making a point about his home country.
"Whenever something goes on that the Kiwis don't like, they seem to take great pleasure in pointing out the Australian connection," he said.
"But I don't get it. Is it that I'm nasty? Is it that I'm short sighted or arrogant or intolerant, or what?
"Me being an Aussie has got absolutely nothing to do with the awful behaviour of these people, that's for certain."
Donnelly said visiting sports teams from the town had consistently behaved badly, spitting, swearing and playing loud music at night.
"I'm not saying there aren't any nice people in Wainuiomata, but plenty of them are bad and we don't want them here," he said.
The Motel Association of New Zealand said Supreme was well within its rights to ban a town.
The Dominion Post/stuff.co.nz with AAP
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