Whanganui's local alcohol policy will become stronger after amendments to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act. Photo / 123rf
Whanganui's local alcohol policy will become stronger after amendments to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act. Photo / 123rf
Whanganui advocates have welcomed the Government's plans to amend alcohol legislation and empower communities to limit the sale of alcohol.
Justice Minister Kiri Allan has announced amendments to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that will remove the ability of alcohol suppliers to appeal local alcohol policies (LAPs).
Safer Whanganui chairwoman and district councillor Kate Joblin said it was welcome news that the community's voice would be strengthened by removing the deep pockets of the alcohol industry from the development of LAPs.
"Allowing the alcohol industry to have such a strong influence on the LAP process is just a nonsense – a bit like allowing turkeys to vote whether to have Christmas or not," she said.
Whanganui District Council's LAP, introduced in 2019, set a limit of 14 off-licence facilities in the district.
Joblin and representatives of the public health and community agencies that make up the Safer Whanganui group were disappointed when the District Licensing Committee (DLC) granted a 15th licence in 2021.
The group wrote to Allan's predecessor Kris Faafoi in May last year to urge him to revise the 2012 Act and some Whanganui District councillors added their signatures to the letter.
"When the DLCs are only required to consider LAPs and not give the local bylaw the gravitas by having it apply, there seems little or no point to a council's LAP," Joblin said.
Councillor Kate Joblin said the deep pockets of alcohol companies had impeded local alcohol bylaws.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Councillor Rob Vinsen, who did not support the introduction of a LAP, said he had not changed his mind.
'I just don't think it is an effective way to minimise alcohol harm," he said.
"If you have 67 local authorities with individual alcohol bylaws that don't match up it only serves to confuse people. I think rules around alcohol, like rules for driving, should be managed at a national level."
Councillor Rob Vinsen beleives alcohol legislation should be administered at a national level.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui MP Steph Lewis said the LAPs were intended to suit the needs of individual communities.
"Cities and districts have different needs and different problems related to alcohol use so it makes sense that local bodies are able to consult their communities to develop their own LAPs," Lewis said.
"What I have heard from talking to people in Whanganui and districts is that they are really concerned about the numbers of liquor outlets in their neighbourhoods and they feel that the current system doesn't work."
Lewis said it was coincidental that Green Party Auckland MP Chloe Swarbrick's Alcohol Harm Minimisation Bill had been pulled from the ballot in June this year.
Whanganui District councillors voted in May in favour of supporting Swarbrick's Bill.
Swarbrick has criticised the current and previous governments for "kicking the can down the road" on alcohol harm reduction.
Lewis said the Government had been doing work on the legislation.
"Minister Allan has made it a top priority to focus on immediate reforms to licensing procedures because the public feedback has been that community objectors felt intimidated by the hearings process."
The Government is considering further reforms including measures to address the pricing and marketing of alcohol.
Swarbrick's Bill, which is set to be debated by Parliament next month, includes measures to minimise alcohol marketing - especially in sports. She applauded Allan's announcement but would not be pulling her Bill.
Lewis said Labour also wanted to address the issue of alcohol sponsorship but she believed a staged approach was needed.
"Some Whanganui sports clubs could be seriously disadvantaged if that sponsorship had to be cancelled," she said.
"We know how important those clubs are for wellbeing and some struggling families could not afford to pay fees for their children so it's important to make sure alternative funding sources can be found."
Whanganui MP Steph Lewis said the matter of sponsorship by alcohol companies needs a staged approach.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Spirits NZ chief executive Robert Brewer said he agreed with the Government's proposal to review alcohol laws, saying it had been 10 years since the previous reforms.
But he questioned the focus on the special appeals process. Many of the councils' policies were being challenged through judicial review, rather than the appeals system, he said.
