Thu, 03 Feb 2011 2:52p.m.
A councillor's protest against a Cambodian-owned takeaway joint in Taranaki is "deplorable", the Race Relations Commissioner says.
New Plymouth District councillor Sherril George yesterday handed out brochures outside Waitara's Town and Country Food, which urged people to boycott the one-month old business.
Ms George, who owns a pizzeria in Waitara, says she wants people to support their "local community" and argues Town and Country Food is a franchise driving other businesses out.
But Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres told NZPA: "You can't put a little fence around Waitara and say 'no migrants here'.
"I was quite shocked but I'm very heartened by the way people have both challenged her and disassociated themselves from her comments."
However, Ms George was not breaking the law.
"You have to get to a pretty extreme level to fall foul of the law but that doesn't mean (this situation) is not deplorable."
People who had New Zealand residence or a visa had the right to work anywhere in the country.
"I think Ms George's comments come dangerously close to xenophobia ... in terms of seeking to excite hostility against a person who is operating a legal business in the town."
He said Ms George's stance was anti-competitive: "You compete on product, not on ethnicity".
Ms George told NZPA she was not a racist.
"This is nothing to do with racism. The businesses that I have been representing are multi-cultural. There's Maori, there's Chinese and there's Indian as well as European so there's no way anyone can label me a racist."
Ms George said she was working with local businesses to help them "lift their game".
She said Town and Country was targeting lower socioeconomic businesses with the sole aim of closing them down.
"It's all about cheap and nasty before it is about actually looking at adding value to a community."
She said her protest had nothing to do with the council but was her own initiative.
Town and Country Food owner Hoyt Khuon, who runs the shop with his family and has lived in New Zealand since 1998, told NZPA he was shocked by Ms George's actions but he had received at least 100 calls of support today.
"I am not a foreigner, I am a Kiwi. I hold a New Zealand passport," he said.
Locals told him to ignore Ms George and many apologised: "It made me feel so relieved and so welcome. I keep holding the phone and I can't work," he said.
Ms George's protest did not intimidate him and he was able to keep his sense of humour.
"I'm not scared about what she's trying to do ... I've got a lot of people supporting me -- even the mayor."
He was upset by her claims his food was of poor quality and his shop was "bleeding the town dry" however.
"I believe in my customer, if it's low-quality people don't come back," he said.
And Mr Khuon said he did support the community as he used local suppliers, plumbers and builders.
Ms George might be motivated by professional jealousy, he said.
"If you want a customer to go to your place do your stuff better than I do."
http://www.3news.co.nz/Race-relations-commissioner-says-Taranaki-protest-deplorable/tabid/423/articleID/197002/Default.aspx
