The motel industry is buzzing about the "Wainuiomata banning incident" as shown to the nation on television last night.Owners of the Supreme Motor Lodge in Palmerston North appear to have had a bit of bad luck interacting with the public recently and have identified that the most troublesome guests that cause them the most grief are domiciled in Wainuiomata.
The motel has reacted by banning all 16,000 residents of the Lower Hutt suburb.
The media, has had no difficulty in inflaming precious Kiwis defending the honour of Wainuiomata and claiming that the suburb is "really not that bad."
What has been conspicuously absent in the debate are the rights of business owners to make a decision on how they run their own private business and who they choose to host on their own private property.
We believe that a business owner publicly announcing a blanket ban on a geographical area may be unwise and somewhat misguided, however we concede that we do not know their business or market and we defend the owners' right to conduct their own business as they see fit.
Last night's farcical situation of having bovver boy Labour MP Trevor Mallard attempting to book into the motel with TV One's CloseUp cameras in pursuit was hilarious. Obviously feeling somewhat unrestrained with Uncle Helen safely offshore, Mallard confidently marched up to the motel's reception believing that he had a God-given right to a room at the motel.
Mallard was indignant when he found the reception door locked and was greeted by a bemused Scottish manager that firmly asked him to leave "his" private property.
Fairly typical of his type, Mallard strode onto private property demanding something he wasn't entitled to and then after being unceremoniously ejected, declared that all motels should take a Kiwi Host course.
We feel that Mallard made a prize dick of himself and should stick with nannying the hapless folk in his own electorate.
