KEY POINTS:
Moves to tackle youth drinking have been dismissed as feeble after being confirmed by the Government today.
The proposals include setting the blood alcohol limit for drivers under 20 who do not hold a full licence at zero and creating new offences of providing alcohol to minors.
Changes to alcohol advertising were also announced by and Justice Minister Mark Burton today.
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said the proposals were feeble and "a soft political response to a serious health issue".
Mr Bell said problems with cheap and discounted alcohol were not addressed and alcohol marketing control was left in the hands of the media and advertising industries.
"These proposals lack teeth, they focus narrowly on youth drinking and leave the status quo largely unchanged," Mr Bell said.
"The Minister has misread the level of public concern about alcohol. It's time for Parliament to show stronger leadership than the Government has, and take bolder action to tackle this serious health issue."
Green Party alcohol and drug spokeswoman Metiria Turei today said she supported the Government proposals around the sale and supply of liquor to minors, but would like to see alcohol advertising barred completely.
"Alcohol causes enormous harm and its extensive advertising encourages a binge-drinking culture that is very harmful."
The Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC) also criticised the review, saying it did not address the issue of adult supply.
ALAC chief executive Gerard Vaughan said the review focused predominantly on young people's drinking rather than measures surrounding who was supplying them with alcohol and in what circumstances.
"What we were hoping for was some creative thinking on how to get some influence over what's called the social supply of alcohol to young people - that's the supply by parents and other adults to young people in a private setting."
He added: "On the one hand parents say they don't want the Government to dictate how they bring up their children but they also say they want support. There needs to be more public debate on solutions that would be acceptable to parents."
The Government proposals came out of a review into the sale and supply of alcohol to minors and were previously reported, but were confirmed today.
The Government announced the review into the sale of liquor to minors last November when Parliament was considering Labour MP Martin Gallagher's bill to raise the legal age for drinking back to 20. The bill was defeated.
Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said the changes would extend the scope of the self-regulatory system to include all forms of advertising and promotion and recognise that alcohol is increasingly promoted using a range of emerging techniques such as through the internet.
"It also strengthened the regulatory system, introduces sanctions and gives the Ministry of Health a role for the first time," Mr O'Connor said.
Non-legislative measures included increased monitoring, research, and voluntary codes for alcohol sponsorship and in-store display.
Mr Burton said the proposals aimed to delay youth drinking, and to ensure youths who drank did not harm themselves and received help when needed.
"The Government believes this set of proposals is a constructive mix of legislative changes and measures to improve attitudes to limit young people's access to alcohol," he said.
"Parents' overall responsibility in guiding their children is maintained."
ALAC research has found that parents are the main suppliers of alcohol to young people - about 60 per cent - with about 30 per cent supplied by friends and 10 per cent bought by the young people themselves.
Harm was most significant when drinking was unsupervised.
Under current law anyone can supply a youth with alcohol except from licensed premises.
KEY PROPOSALS:
* Setting the blood alcohol limit for drivers under 20 who do not hold a full licence at zero
* Creating an offence for adults (other than parents or guardians) to supply alcohol to a minor who consumes it in a public place
* Creating an infringement offence for a minor to supply alcohol to another minor who consumes it in a public place
* Implementing early intervention programmes as an alternative sanction to infringement notices
* Cancelling licences for managers who are convicted three times for selling liquor to a minor within a two-year period
* Amending the law so that the only defence for selling alcohol to a minor is if the seller sighted one of the approved specified age identification documents.
- NZPA
