Selah Hart: ‘Long overdue’ action on alcohol product advertising in Tāmaki Makaurau

Hapai Te Hauora CEO Selah Hart. Photo / Supplied

OPINION

One of the most dispiriting things I’ve experienced in my time working in public health has been watching whānau attempt to go up against the alcohol industry, desperate to reduce the harm caused by alcohol in their community, and seeing them fail to gain traction towards meaningful change because of the enormous disparity in resourcing, and the lack of legislative support to correct that imbalance.

As an organisation, we have supported whānau in Tāmaki Makaurau to mobilise and have their voices heard, and every time they have been overpowered by lawyers representing the alcohol industry, and failed by a lack of courage by central government to take action on alcohol-related harm.

It’s not as if there isn’t a roadmap for change – experts agree that the recommendations in the Law Commission report “Alcohol in Our Lives: Curbing the Harm” from more than a decade ago remain relevant, and ready to action immediately if only there was a government motivated to do so.

This is why we are so pleased to see the new local rules in Tāmaki Makaurau which require the removal of alcohol product advertising from bottle stores.

It is a significant step in the right direction, and it is a policy that has the wellbeing of tamariki mokopuna at its centre; we know that tamariki Māori are more likely to be exposed to alcohol advertising than other children.

Any steps that reduce the normalisation of alcohol use reduces the potential for long-term harm from alcohol among whānau.

We have worked with Dr Nicki Jackson at Alcohol Healthwatch for many years, and we join her in celebrating these local rules but also the recent application for two digital billboards in Māngere which has been granted with conditions including no alcohol advertising.

We hope that these changes in our region will be replicated elsewhere in Aotearoa, and provide confidence to the Minister of Justice with the upcoming alcohol law reforms that this is what the community wants, irrespective of the pressure undoubtedly being mounted by well-paid advocates for the alcohol industry. It’s time to put the health and wellbeing of whānau first.

Selah Hart is the CEO of Hāpai Te Hauora, the largest Māori public health organisation in Aotearoa. https://www.hapai.co.nz/