‘Not tonight brother … the manager told me not to let Aboriginals in’

THE pub owner says there’s no way the hotel is racist, but those refused entry say they were told to “get your name cleared”.

The Palais Hotel. Picture: Facebook

AN ABORIGINAL woman who believes racism was the reason she was refused entry to a popular Adelaide hotel says a duty manager told her, “All I can say is get your name cleared”.

And the security officer allegedly added even more insult to injury by calling police to an “altercation” that didn’t happen, she said.

“I don’t want anyone to be made to feel the way I was that night,” the woman, Taylor Power-Smith, told Adelaide’s FIVEaa radio team Dave and Will of the storm that has followed her and her two friends being refused entry to the Palais Hotel in Semaphore on Friday night.

It follows a weekend in which both Ms Power-Smith, and another indigenous couple, Peter Miller Koncz said he and his wife Kahlia, claimed they had been denied entry to the pub because they were indigenous.

Mr Miller Koncz told the Adelaide Advertiser when he asked why he’d been refused entry the reply was: “Nah, not tonight brother … the manager told me not to let Aboriginals in tonight.”

The hotel rejects this, today again denying outright that its management has instructed indigenous patrons be turned away.

The Palais owner told FIVEaa: “We are not racist, we deny all allegations of that,” adding, “We have video footage that will confirm our stance.”

He said he was awaiting statements from security officers and staff working on the nights of both incidents, and that his son “couldn't sleep last night ... he’s just about suffering a stressful breakdown because of it, because we care about our reputation as a family hotel, so much and this has affected us in a very bad way.”

Peter Miller-Koncz with his wife Kahlia and children Kashiah 8, Kobe 2 and Jaikye 10 at the Palais Hotel, Semaphore. Picture: Matt Turner

Ms Power-Smith earlier told the radio duo she has video of her own of what unfolded after she and her friends arrived at the Palais, sober on Friday night.

“We are all Aboriginal and before we even got near the doors, he (the security guard) was shaking his hands and saying, ‘No entry, no entry,’” Mr Power-Smith said.

“He told us it was because there were only 60 patrons inside and that they were closing, so we walked away thinking that was the reason.

“Some other people that I knew came over to say hello. I started explaining to them not to bother try to get in because they are closing. We then watched two non-indigenous people let straight in. He checked their ID, told them to have a good night, and off their went without any hesitation.

“We were then a bit confused as to why they were allowed in when it was supposedly closing in a few minutes and we were not.”

Ms Power-Smith said the security guard then called her group over and said: “I’m just letting you know there was a massive indigenous fight here (last week) involving about 40 indigenous people all fighting each other (the week before).”

“We hadn’t heard anything about a fight. We weren’t there, we weren’t involved in it and we don’t know anyone who was involved in it so we were wondering why he was even telling us,” Ms Power-Smith said.

“It became obvious that is why he refused us entry because of that fight. He made us feel guilty ... for being Aboriginal. That’s not fair to hold us all responsible for the actions of a few. To me that is discrimination.”

She said she asked several times what the reason for refusal and was told: “Management reserve the right to refuse entry”.

Ms Power-Smith’s Facebook post about her treatment.

“He just kept saying, ‘I’ve been instructed by management.’ I’m not sure if it’s management or an issue with the security guys, but someone needs to take responsibility for this because we were discriminated against.”

She said the duty manager told her: “All I can say to you is just get your name cleared.

“I just said, ‘For what? I haven’t done anything wrong.’

She was also confused as to why when she asked to see management the security guard made the call saying it was “non-urgent”, but he then called police to say, “I need some assistance with an altercation out the front.”

“There was no altercation,” Ms Power-Smith said.

“The police came and I spoke to them and they just walked off. because I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“When the other (indigenous) couple rocked up and were refused the next night, it was a different security guard, which makes it sound like they were under instructions.

“I don’t want anyone to be made to feel the way I was that night.”

Mr Karpluk said the hotel denies “all allegations of racism”.

“We are trying to get statements from staff and security guards,” he said.

“Because it’s the busy summer period we did have some problems outside the hotel and decided to tighten up a little bit on our policy on dress as well as intoxication and general aggressive behaviour.

“We had offered to meet with all the parties involved and have a decent chat about it,” he said.

He said in the case of Miller Koncz, and his wife, his understanding was “his wife and friend were let in, but he was refused because of dress”.

“We didn’t know they were all together and my understanding is when the duty manager got involved his wife got very argumentative and started calling us racist.

“And he made the decision, which we would support, that she wasn’t welcome either, we have all this on video footage to support what I’m saying.

“It’s difficult when you’ve got a busy venue to make sure you get it right all the time.

“Clearly if we’ve made an error we would apologise but nobody has complained to us directly and we are waiting to meet with them and we have looked at ways to make contact.

“I know what it’s like to be bullied and picked on. The last thing I’d like to do is find people feel unwelcome because of race, colour or creed in our venue.”