Stuff reports on a case of a Blenheim backpacker's hostel refusing accommodation to a Christchurch earthquake refugee on the grounds that he is a kiwi. Unmentioned anywhere in the article: that this is blatantly illegal. Discrimination on the basis of "ethnic or national origins, which includes nationality or citizenship" is prohibited by the Human Rights Act. While there are exceptions allowing retirement villages, same-sex accommodation and so forth, none of these allows discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or nationality. You can't refuse accommodation to kiwis, any more than you can to tourists, or Maori.
Hopefully, the Human Rights Commission will be educating the hostel about their legal obligations. And if they still don't get it, I look forward to them being driven into bankruptcy by the resulting legal action.
