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The manager of the Whiskey Bar has told how the group Tea Ropati met there were drunk but not "completely intoxicated".
Ruth Westwick, who was bar manager on the night of the incident, said the group had been to a function and arrived at the bar happy and "a bit raucous".
"After midnight, people usually are a little drunk but these people were dancing and were able to hold a conversation and use eftpos. They seemed fine," said Ms Westwick.
"They were happy and at the time everyone had had a few."
Staff at the Whiskey Bar took their host responsibility duties seriously and she denied they would turn a blind eye to serving people who were drunk.
Ropati's court case and the subsequent media interest surrounding it had not had a detrimental effect on business there and there was no change in business practice.
"We get a few people popping their heads in and saying, 'Oh, this is where it all happened, eh?' but apart from that, it's business as usual," said Ms Westwick.
Police say it is not just a matter of host responsibility - New Zealanders need to change their attitude to how they drink.
Auckland West liquor licensing co-ordinator Jason Loye said it was not enough simply to blame errant publicans for booze-related problems.
"New Zealand's drinking culture is probably the main problem - people thinking they can go out there to get pissed."
His comments come two days after Ropati's acquittal on six sex charges, allegedly stemming from an incident at the Whiskey Bar.
The court heard that Ropati and a 36-year-old woman were drinking heavily in the bar, with one estimate putting the woman's total consumption for the evening at the equivalent of 3.5 bottles of wine.
Mr Loye's unit is responsible for ensuring that publicans adhere to the Sale of Liquor Act by not violating section 168, which makes it illegal for bars to allow any intoxicated patrons to remain on the premises.
There are three such units operating in central Auckland, and they are assisted by team policing units and cops on the beat.
Although different areas came in for attention at different times, and certain bars give more cause for concern than others, the number of prosecutions of licensed premises was "fairly static, depending on area and time", Mr Loye said.
Pubs and other licensed establishments are the safest places to drink, but most people still choose to booze in uncontrolled environments, says the Hospitality Association.
Chief executive Bruce Robertson told the Weekend Herald yesterday that less than a third of drinkers consumed alcohol on licensed premises, with 70 per cent preferring to do their drinking elsewhere.
The association intends pressuring the Government to consider an amendment to the Sale of Liquor Act that would see public drunkenness a fineable offence.
Work needed to be done to change New Zealanders' attitudes to alcohol, rather than simply punishing publicans, Mr Robertson said.
"Some New Zealanders - not all, but some - are drinking to the point of intoxication. [We] should be sending some signal to New Zealanders to say drinking to that extent is unacceptable."
Mr Robertson said persecuting publicans for patrons' bad behaviour was "a perpetuation of the blame culture" where people think: "If people are getting drunk, it must be the licensee's fault".
Authority crackdowns on liquor licence holders meant drinking holes had "never been safer".
Alcohol Liquor Council chief executive Gerard Vaughan said yesterday that he would prefer to see publicans kept under scrutiny, at the same time as people acted to change drinkers' attitudes.
While he accepted that most drinkers chose to consume alcohol away from licensed premises, licensed establishments' host responsibility obligations still needed to be monitored.
