Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill

Members might know that I do not drink too much these days but I find myself thinking that I may be a bit of a hypocrite talking about this sort of bill about the rights and wrongs of drinking or purchasing liquor. I have to admit that once upon a time I did venture into a pub before I was supposed to –

Hon John Carter: By mistake.

I purchased alcohol, by mistake, ahead of the right age, and yes, I got led astray by some of my friends, by mistake, and lost my mana.

Hon Member: That must have been Te Arawa.

By mistake, it was. In those days it seemed to be all about fun; that was the focus. But in reflecting on this bill it seems to me that times have changed a little bit. I say that because last August, in the Southern regions of Te Tai Tonga; Dunedin police in riot gear battled crowds of drunk university students as they threw bottles, and burnt couches in the mayhem known as the Undie 500.

We understand that thirty people were arrested for disorderly behaviour, obstruction and breaching the liquor ban in the annual riot that is all too often dismissed as student pranks.

Somehow along the line, the alcohol-fuelled trip organised by the student university blurred the distinction between off-campus fun and behaviour of a criminal nature. This seems to be the case more often that not these days.

As I stated last week in a debate on similar bill, and despite my feeling of being a bit of a hypocrite, the M
ori Party is greatly concerned that alcohol and drugs are involved to such a large extent in youth crisis situations. It did not seem to be like that in my time.

During the debate last week I spoke of the fact that alcohol-related alcohol-related harm is a major contributor to preventable health and social costs experienced by young people.

I also spoke of the reality that young people are more than twice as likely to suffer from alcohol-related harms as other age groups.

As parents, grandparents, and in some cases great-grandparents; we hear the stories about the drinking behaviour of our rangatahi – and as a caucus, we are of the M
ori Party are determined that we have to do something about it.

We know that overall, a lower proportion of rangatahi Mäori drink compared with non-Mäori – and that’s a fact we celebrate.

But those young Maori that do drink - compared with all non-Mäori and with Mäori aged 30 years and over - appear to disproportionately engage in heavier and riskier drinking.

Young people themselves report that alcohol is usually supplied by parents (60%) or friends aged over 18 years (30%).

This Bill is intended to improve industry compliance and responsibility; to put the focus squarely at the feet of the alcohol barons; the alcohol industry.

The Bill seeks to regulate where, to whom, when, and how alcohol can be sold in communities.

And importantly, this Bill will implement the recommendations arising from the review of the sale and supply of alcohol to under 18 year olds in New Zealand.

That’s all good, but of course it misses the point – it’s not the booze that we’re buying; it’s the fact that we’re drinking.

And so there is nothing in here which specifically focuses on those whom the young people identify as handing over the alcohol to them – parents and friends.

The Bill targets the industry; local authorities on-licences and off-licences; in fact everyone except the person holding the wallet.

That’s not to say that it’s not important to have the wider community take responsibility for this problem – but more to suggest that we must target our efforts on those who are within the immediate orbit of the young people at the focus of this Bill.

The Maori Party has always suggested that should be a variety of strategies, both legislative and non-legislative to reduce the overall supply of alcohol to young people to limit their drinking and its associated harms.

We know that to stem the tide on this desperate problem of binge drinking by young people, we cannot put up ad hoc proposals in isolation from the overall drinking culture of the nation.

And so this Bill is a step in the right direction, in terms of putting in place different approaches to address the responsibility of those supplying alcohol to our young people from a commercial premise.

The Bill attempts to address drinking behaviour by improving industry compliance and responsibility to regulate where, to whom, when, and how alcohol can be sold in communities, and to ensure social impact is taken into account in licensing conditions.

That’s all good and we support any moves to bring responsibility to the fore.

That responsibility is specified in a number of ways

It introduces local alcohol plans – to be adopted using consultative procedures provided for in the Local Government Act – thus increasing community input into licensing decisions;

Any application for on-licenses, off-licenses and clubs, has to be consistent with the local alcohol plan. Local authorities need to notify the Authority they support the granting of the license;

The types of premises that may hold liquor licenses are defined – off-licenses cannot be granted in small premises and off-licenses are restricted to selling wine and beer;

And importantly those supplying alcohol are going to be subject to more stringent rules around their own performance.

A lot of these changes are to do with self-regulation and self control

And it made me think about the report that came out of the first Maori alcohol and drug summit which took place at Manu Ariki in 2000.

Two of the key outcomes from the summit were:

Ø Leadership to advise and guide kaimahi in the drug and alcohol area;

Ø Cultural competencies to standardise drug and alcohol services.

Leadership may be about having Mäori staff and Mäori counsellors who have knowledge of tikanga, kuia/kaumätua as mentors, explaining and promoting the programme to whänau so they understand what is involved.

Cultural competencies may be about developing a whole of whänau approach (especially if there are drug and alcohol issues in the home).

Since that first summit, Maori alcohol and drug providers have been meeting regularly to ensure Maori retain mastery over our own solutions to address alcohol related harm.

Their commitment is that Maori are able to honour and respect themselves, others and their place of belonging. To do that, Maori need to be free of the behaviours which threaten their way of being.

So when we look through this Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill, although we are pleased to see greater clarity around the role of manager; of off-license premises; of Licensing Authorities, we know it is but a partial solution.

Real solutions are likely to be most effective when co-ordinated at multiple levels in society.

Real solutions will involve stakeholders at all levels.

Real solutions will involve our families; they will engage our whanau; that are directly run with those at the very centre of this Bill: our young people.

We will support this Bill at its first reading, because we want to see as wide a debate encouraged as possible about an issue of such critical and fundamental importance to the growth of our nation.
Our policy, as the Maori Party, has been to support whanau focused alcohol and drug addiction, recovery and restoration services.

We are particularly concerned for the futures of our young. More than half – 53% - of the entire Maori population is under 25 years old.

We cannot afford to turn a blind eye; to ignore the profile of young people who drink In New Zealand. We know that the consumption of large quantities of alcohol in one sitting is accepted as a social norm – and if there is one thing that we would most like to see this Bill achieve – it would be to change the attitudes that lead to the behaviours we all condemn = of binge drinking and intoxication.

We will support this Bill, and we look forward to more changes to come, to ensure a huge and meaningful reduction in drinking-related harm for our young people.