The problem is shops, bars and cafes have not agitated enough to bring about the required change in legislation.
They should do that en masse, not only in Rotorua but all around the country; or say "stuff the law, we're opening anyway". And then do it.
Outdated laws should be changed. The Government should stop dicking around and "just do it". We don't need lawmakers in Wellington treating us like fools.
This is 2015, for goodness sake. We think differently from 25 years ago and now have different shopping habits, too.
As for the petty liquor licensing laws over Easter, they need ditching, too. I can go to a bar on Thursday before Good Friday, meet friends and have a drink. I don't have to order any food if I don't want to. Yet the next day I can only have a drink at the same bar if I order a meal.
The usual bar snacks, available the day before, won't cut it and apparently a pie isn't considered substantial enough.
The pies I enjoy eating are more than adequate to soak up a few drinks. So what's the difference between a drink on Thursday evening and one on Good Friday? Nothing other than a stupid licensing rule.
I am sick of lawmakers who want to save us from ourselves. I have always thought those who put together our alcohol trading and licensing laws must be wowsers. That's what many of the rules and regulations reflect. Killjoys all of them.
And now health authorities are getting in on the act. They too know what's good for us.
Birthcare Maternity Hospital, one of the biggest maternity hospitals in the country, has a liquor licence. For years it has offered parents celebrating a baby's birth a glass of wine or low-alcohol beer as part of the dinner menu.
So what's the problem?
The hospital applied to the district licensing committee to renew its liquor licence. This was granted after an attempt was made by the Auckland medical officer to challenge the decision. An appeal to the New Zealand Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority also failed.
Now the Auckland District Health Board is going to the High Court to get the licence renewal quashed.
Everyone knows about the dangers of pregnant women drinking; also the risk to a newborn, if breastfed, should the mother drink alcohol. But we're talking here about a responsible hospital's long-standing policy. If it had been abused the hospital would have decided, "That's it - no more alcohol."
Birthcare Maternity Hospital in Parnell is not a place you rock up to with a slab of Tui or box of Woodstock. I don't believe anyone would be so foolish as to do that in any hospital in the country. I'm sure new parents and visiting family members appreciate the hospital's gesture. They don't need a busy-body hospital board sticking its nose in.
We know hospitals see daily the tragic results of excessive drinking. But that should not allow a hospital board to try to influence and interfere with the granting of a liquor licence; and for no good reason. There is no abuse occurring at Birthcare Maternity Hospital. But the board's intended action borders on abuse. It is using its powerful position, and taxpayer's money, to fight an imaginary case.
Another example of, "Let's save these misguided people from themselves."
I hope the High Court tells them to butt out.
-Merepeka lives in Rotorua. She writes, speaks and broadcasts to thwart the spread of political correctness.
