By BERNARD ORSMAN
Two Maori claim customary rights allow them to sell greenstone jewellery in the pre-Christmas rush on Queen St in Auckland.
But the city's Mayor, Christine Fletcher, says they are opportunists, and has ordered that they be moved on.
Rita Manukau and her father, Mohi Manukau - who says he is paramount chief of the Ngati Whatua state government - set up boards mounted with cheap jewellery on the Queen St footpath at the end of Vulcan Lane on Monday without a permit.
Retailers want them removed.
They are furious that the Auckland City Council gave them an exemption to park their van on a 15-minute parking zone in busy Queen St all day until December 31.
Traffic manager Joseph Flanagan was defending the exemption yesterday afternoon to the Herald when Mayor Christine Fletcher stepped in and demanded it be revoked today.
Mrs Fletcher said she acted as soon as she heard about the pair, who she said were "opportunist."
"We expect everyone to observe the bylaws and they will be strictly administered. We are not going to have special treatment for any one individual."
One Queen St retailer, Phelan Pirrie, said the pair's rights claim was nonsense and the council should stop being politically correct and treat them like everyone else.
Another retailer, who did not want to be named, said he got the impression council staff were "scared witless."
Rita Manukau said she had traded on Queen St on and off for the past 14 years. When she was challenged by a council officer on Tuesday, she challenged her back under tikanga Maori (Maori common law).
The regional manager of the self-styled "Ngati Whatua state government," Maurice Adam, said customary rights allowed the Maori group to trade in Queen St and the council had no lawful mandate to "kick them off."
Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said city retailers were spending considerable sums of money improving the city to make it a cosmopolitan centre.
"The prospect of these guys squatting in the midst of that environment is not in line with our objectives."
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