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WELLINGTON - The youth wings of four political parties have come together in a last minute bid to prevent MPs raising the drinking age to 20.
MPs are expected to debate on Wednesday the second reading of a member's bill that would raise the drinking age back to 20. Parliament narrowly voted in 1999 to lower it to 18.
The vote again looks like it will be close with a Drug Foundation website surveying MPs' positions showing 30 support the bill, 32 oppose it and 25 remain undecided.
A further 12 MPs support a proposed amendment by National MP Wayne Mapp to split the drinking age - setting it at 20 for off license purchases and 18 for bars.
A vote on that amendment would occur during the bill's committee stages, preceding its third reading - meaning those MPs are likely to support it at its second reading.
Twenty two MPs are yet to respond to the survey.
Last week the Keep it 18 campaign was launched and today the youth leaders of Labour, National, the Greens and ACT put on a joint press conference to voice their support.
Keep it 18 spokesman Christopher Bishop said the bill was a "legislative sledgehammer" that might even make problems with youth drinking worse.
"Raising the age will drive people away from supervised premises like bars and clubs into flats, under bridges, into cars and into suburban streets."
The "narrow and simplistic" bill did not address New Zealand's problem binge-drinking culture and would not stop 14 and 15-year-olds getting drunk as most got their alcohol from their parents.
At the age of 18 people could vote, die for their country, get married, drive or smoke, said Mr Bishop, a Victoria University law student.
"We think that means that you are responsible enough, old enough and mature enough to have a drink."
Young National president Matthew Patterson added gambling, having children and buying classified pornography to the list of things 18-year-olds could do.
The bill would also create a situation where 18 and 19-year-olds could work in a bar, but not drink themselves.
Toughening up existing penalties would be more effective, he said.
Young Labour spokesman Sonny Thomas said more advertising and social marketing were needed.
Similar marketing campaigns had worked for drink driving and wearing seatbelts.
ACT on campus president Helen Simpson called on MPs to resist their desire for a "headline grabbing ban".
She said the bill was an assault on personal freedom and if passed, could also drive away some of the 50,000 18 and 19-year-olds that visited New Zealand every year to study or travel.
Greens spokesman Zach Dorner said there had been little consultation on the bill with youth who were almost universally opposed to the removal of their rights.
The drinking age had originally been dropped because it had not been respected or enforced.
Banning alcohol advertising and clamping down on alcohol sales in dairies were a better means of limited alcohol-related damage.
The bill's sponsor Labour MP Martin Gallagher told NZPA he did not believe the new group represented the views of all young people.
Students Against Drink Driving had spoken out in support of the bill.
Since the drinking age had been dropped binge drinking by young teenagers had risen significantly.
He urged MPs to vote the bill passed its second reading so the bill could get a full airing and amendments could be considered during its committee stages.
A recent poll found that two-thirds of New Zealanders believed the legal age for purchasing alcohol should be raised back to 20.
- NZPA
