He said there should be a reduction in the availability of alcohol in Whanganui.
“One of the things that makes it complicated is that it’s so ingrained in so much of our culture, it’s basically very normal. One of the things we need to do is to make it less normal, and one of the ways you do that is to make it less available.
“The more outlets where you can purchase alcohol, and kids can walk past and see it, that all leads to drinking being normalised.”
Campbell said he would also like to see an increase in the price point of alcohol.
“In the same way as cigarettes, making it more expensive and increasing the point of sale helps to contribute to reducing harm, although there are still those people who will prioritise purchasing alcohol over other things.
“So we can’t say that’s going to be one of the permanent things that will help, but it will be a contributing factor.”
Whanganui district councillor Rob Vinsen said having fewer alcohol stores would not make any difference to alcohol-related harm.
“If there’s too many, the competition between the alcohol stores will quickly sort that out, but just having one less alcohol outlet doesn’t make any difference to alcohol harm.
“The local alcohol policy that councils are able to have doesn’t include supermarkets and dairies; in my mind that makes it ridiculous because there’s only control over places like Liquorland and Black Bull.
“If we do have a limit on the number of liquor stores, we can’t control supermarkets and dairies.”
Vinsen said he thought dairies were a greater risk to the community than liquor outlets.
“I think they’re more accessible to young people and possibly less supervised than a supermarket or Liquorland.
“Even I get asked when I go into a supermarket what age I am because they have to get a supervisor to serve me. It’s so strict; those rules don’t apply to a corner store.”
Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay said the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Amendment Bill would prevent the council from having its local alcohol policy challenged in court.
“It would allow us to craft a local alcohol policy that reflects the needs of our communities and responds to the risks around alcohol, without getting caught up in a really costly court battle, which causes us to ultimately roll back on a number of components.”
Chandulal-Mackay said the council set a cap on off-licensed premises to limit the number of alcohol stores in Whanganui.
“If you reduce availability, you potentially reduce harm, that’s what all the evidence told us.
“In terms of the off licences and the cap we have got in our policy, the attempt behind that was to ensure we don’t have any more bottle stores open up in high-deprivation areas, which is what we’ve seen happen in the last decades.”
Campbell said the bill being passed would have a positive impact.
“What that’s actually done is it’s taken the ability of big business and big alcohol from being able to tie things up in litigation because they can utilise the money that they have for lawyers.
“The community doesn’t have the ability to afford lawyers to act on their behalf to go through legislation, laws and case studies; the community is just concerned about having their voice heard.”
Chandulal-Mackay said since the council adopted the local alcohol policy, there had been a move towards more boutique breweries and distilleries.
“For instance, Papaiti Gin has got an off licence through the District Licensing Committee, as has Roots Brewery — I do think there is a place for those sorts of enterprises here.
“Purely because they are boutique, they’re not selling low-quality, cheap liquor in high amounts. These are boutique enterprises that are encouraging a culture that isn’t about binge drinking.
“I would like to see us be more permissive to those sorts of things in the future.”
In 2023, there are 53 on-licensed premises in Whanganui.
Vinsen said the council was “doing what they can” to respond to alcohol harm.
“It’s really a health issue.
“It shouldn’t be forgotten that 90 per cent of people enjoy alcohol, we all like to have a glass of wine, or a beer on a summer afternoon.
“We shouldn’t penalise those people because a minority of people are being harmed by alcohol.”
Campbell said alcohol harm could not be addressed in isolation.
“There’s a whole lot of things that are attached to that. There’s family violence and mental health, there’s the connection to gambling and wellbeing in general for families and the wider community.
“People use it as a coping strategy to help deal with what’s going on, the world’s tough.”
The Safer Whanganui Alcohol and Other Drug Reference Group survey is available at https://forms.office.com/r/VrPyie3Xpq
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
