The win for local communities in the battle over booze - Editorial

Locals should be the ones to decide on restricting alcohol sales. Photo / 123rf

EDITORIAL

It’s been a long time between drinks for those looking to rein in booze sales.

But after battling for a decade to impose tighter controls on alcohol sales - which went all the way to the Supreme Court as the country’s supermarket giants fought tooth and nail - Auckland Council is on the verge of enforcing new rules across the city.

The new rules for Auckland, expected to come into force in December, mean:

• Supermarkets and bottle stores cannot sell alcohol after 9pm (the cut-off is 11pm now).
• Bars, restaurants, and other on-licences cannot sell alcohol later than 4am in the central city and 3am elsewhere.
• Applications for new bottle stores in the central city and 23 other areas will be rejected for two years unless they meet a very high threshold.
• Sports clubs and RSAs can sell alcohol no later than 1am.
• No change for liquor licences for festivals and events. They will continue to be assessed by the district licensing committee.

Commentators also expect the Supreme Court’s decision will allow councils in other parts of the country to more easily set alcohol policy in the areas they’re responsible for.

This is as it should be - most New Zealanders want their elected representatives to have the ability to set reasonable limits on the sale of alcohol in the communities they serve.

As former North Shore Mayor and ex-Auckland Councillor George Wood wrote last week, Auckland’s local alcohol policy “includes vital provisions to restrict the proliferation of bottle stores in lower socio-economic areas across Auckland - a measure designed to reduce alcohol-related harm in vulnerable communities”.

It is well-established that drinking in excess can cause social harm.

Two studies released in April showed how excessive alcohol consumption was putting immense pressure on hospital emergency departments, fuelling an increase in abuse and violence against staff and adding to waiting times for all patients.

Alcohol was also a factor in more than half of the fatal crashes across New Zealand in 2022.

Some police statistics say a third of all crimes are committed by someone who has consumed alcohol beforehand.

Alcohol was a factor in more than half of the fatal crashes across New Zealand in 2022. Photo / Emma Geraghty

Experiments with tighter regulations on alcohol sales have seen mixed results in this country; some link New Zealand’s binge-drinking culture with our 50-year experiment of early pub closing and the infamous 6 o‘clock swill.

But the measures proposed in Auckland’s policy are by no means extreme. They may of course impact the bottom lines of supermarkets, liquor chains, and the small business owners who operate standalone stores. They may also be inconvenient to some people who want nothing more than to enjoy more drinks with family and friends at home after 9pm.

The best people to balance those competing interests with the harm that alcohol can cause are local communities. And that’s exactly what the policy provides.