By EUGENE BINGHAM
A self-proclaimed Maori Government of Aotearoa says it has issued several thousand driver licences that authorities warn are worthless pieces of paper.
Agents for the "government" are selling the licences for $55 to immigrant drivers and other motorists.
The Weekend Herald has learned that up to 50 Thai people claiming
religious asylum through a makeshift Buddhist temple in Auckland have been sold the Maori licences.
John Hikuwai, who flouted fishing regulations under the flag of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes, has been helping the refugee claimants obtain the licences, though he denies being an agent of the Maori government.
"I'm past all that now," said Mr Hikuwai.
But he said Maori had the right to self-government and could therefore issue the documents.
"You'll find that a lot of people in New Zealand are using them.
"A lot of Maori in Australia - and Pakeha - are using them and producing them when they get pulled up by police or traffic cops."
Marcia Davis, the Maori government's transport minister, said applicants had to produce either an international driving licence or a New Zealand driving licence.
Both the old so-called lifetime licences and the new plastic photo licences were acceptable.
"If they don't have one, we do have people who can take them for testing as well.
"We don't just give out licences. We still work very strictly to the guidelines that the [Land Transport Safety Authority] has now."
Mrs Davis said the Maori government's liaison officer had been in touch with the authority.
"We've told them to have us arrested if what we are doing is illegal but they needed to prove it, and that's been for the last year and they have done nothing about it.
"We have letters saying no crime has been committed."
But a spokesman for the LTSA said if someone was caught driving with only a Maori licence, they would be considered an unlicensed driver and would be prosecuted.
"They are worthless," said the spokesman, Andy Knackstedt.
"If anyone gets one of those things and thinks they can legally drive with it, they are mistaken."
Officials were investigating if it was illegal to issue the licences.
