KEY POINTS:
Manukau's Mayor wants a limit on the number of alcohol outlets in the city in a bid to stop the Once Were Warriors-style culture among its young Pacific Island community.
Sir Barry Curtis said the increasing number of alcohol outlets in Manukau made it too easy for underage drinkers to get hold of liquor, which was leading to violence.
Since June there have been 12 homicides in the Counties-Manukau area - many involving teenagers.
"Almost all of the non-domestic murders in the city this year have involved excessive drinking by young people," Sir Barry said.
The underage drinking and out-of-control youth boozing had grown worse because more outlets sold alcohol, he said.
Sir Barry said a binge-drinking culture and tolerance of violence were the fundamental problems.
There was a widespread acceptance that excessive drinking on a regular basis was okay and violence was normal, the mayor said.
"That's why fights are common every Saturday night outside popular bars in places like Otara and Mangere.
"The clientele are not having a quiet chardonnay ... They go there to get tanked. It's Once Were Warriors territory."
Sir Barry said while the behaviour could be found anywhere it was "very common in the Pacific community in Manukau".
"The result is a predisposition to violence generally, and a high incidence of family violence in many Pacific families.
"Cut down on the drinking and you'll cut down on the fists flying in homes throughout Manukau, as well as in parks and streets."
The mayor said he wanted a review of the 504 licensed outlets in Manukau - which were controlled by the District Plan.
Otara Ward councillor Su'a William Sio rejected Sir Barry's claim of a Once Were Warriors culture, saying alcohol-fuelled incidents involved only a small percentage of the area's youth.
"But what he's trying to voice is the general sense of frustration ... and the way the whole community feels by the recent senseless murders."
Mr Sio said the problem had been there since liquor laws were loosened in the late 1990s and the recent decision to keep the drinking age at 18 had not helped things.
Hospitality Association general manager Graeme McKay said that under the Sale of Liquor Act Sir Barry would have problems trying to restrict the number of stores selling alcohol. "The only thing that would restrict the numbers would be the District Plan."
- NZPA
