Sir Bob Jones has labelled beggars a "bloody disgrace", saying the practice should be made illegal.
In response to a West Auckland beggar's claim to Fairfax that he was earning up to $150 a day, the businessman told NZME on Tuesday that people should be ashamed of beggars.
"They're a disgrace to the human race," he said.
Sir Bob claimed that most beggars were obese Maori, and maintained they should be taken off the streets.
"It's a disgrace in a modern society that fat people - that fat Maoris as they mostly are - are lying on our streets of our city begging.
"I was in the city yesterday, in Wellington, and one bugger was standing there, he had a message, this Maori bloke, 'I'm not on welfare' - and this apparently was an achievement - 'so give me money'."
Sir Bob said that if people want to "degrade themselves", they should do it in private.
There is no reason for people to beg, he said, because New Zealand has a welfare system and a shortage of manual labourers.
"That's all these people could do, they're obviously not lawyers and things, and doctors."
Auckland's city missioner, Chris Farrelly, says begging is a difficult problem to deal with because some people on the streets are genuinely poor, while others collect money to spend on drugs.
"It's very hard for a passerby to discern who's who and what's what," he told RadioLIVE.
Mr Farrelly says for this reason, the Auckland City Mission generally advises people not to give money to people on the streets.
However, he says it is a personal choice, and the most important thing to do before giving someone money is to talk to them and find out their story.
Mr Farrelly says the City Mission is happy to work with Sir Bob to get people off the streets, "not just to bring the police in and shuffle them off somewhere".
"With your assistance we might be able to get some housing to those who most need it."
Newshub.
