Shirley Ken: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Shirley Ken: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5433] 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (Deputy Leader—ACT NZ) 
: 
 I think we have finally got to the crux of this bill. John Carter who has just resumed his seat made the point that it is a tax bill. The difficulty we have is that the Government has brought it to the House under extraordinary urgency under the false pretence that it is somehow a form of social engineering that it is do-gooder social improvement legislation but clearly it is not. It is nothing other than a tax bill and we know that it is a tax grab to the tune of $14 million net. 
I have heard speech after speech saying that it is all about saving irresponsible young people. I would like to put it on record that I think the vast majority of young people are actually very responsible. There is a binge-drinking problem in this country. It has unfortunately been part of our culture for many generations and it goes under the category of substance abuse. But if one is really serious about it why is there nothing in all the schedules and numbers that does anything to address the serious problem of substance abuse? Little Johnny with his $10 who is into substance abuse can go and buy 10 litres of petrol to sniff or he can go to the hardware store and buy a great big 4-litre tin of glue to sniff and that is not an issue. We are not setting an excise tax on glue or adding any more tax on petrol because of substance abuse. 
The point is we should address the problem. That was what the Government’s own advice was from McLeod and also the Brian Easton report. McLeod and Easton said that excise tax does not work; it is a thing of the past. The Government has ignored their advice; in fact it has gone against it. It has come here tonight to increase the excise tax against the recommendation of its own tax report and also against the recommendation of the Brian Easton report which was commissioned by the Alcohol Advisory Council and published. 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: That’s not correct. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: The Minister in the chair Jim Anderton is shaking his head but if he looks at page 13 of the Easton report he will see it quite clearly states with regard to full spirits that the excise tax should be lowered. This Government is talking about increasing the excise tax to save young people from overindulging in alcohol. One cannot reconcile those two positions: the recommendation is quite contrary to what the Minister is talking about. 
But if the Government is really serious about addressing alcohol abuse and the social problems associated with it can it answer this one? Why did this Government close down the youth programme for alcoholic recovery at Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer in the South Island? This Government closed down that hospital. That was a real programme that was addressing the problem. Only a minority of young people overindulge to that extent. This Government closed down that programme for youth alcoholics at Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer. I invite the Minister to get up and reconcile that to the Committee. Again we have tables and tables of convoluted schedules references and numbers but at the end of the day that has nothing to do with what this Government is all about which is increasing taxation. 
The other aspect is the home brew kits. Most people know that now one can produce vodka or any spirit one likes. One can buy a little packet of essence and if one has a little home still—it is now quite legal to have a home still as long as the product is not sold—one can produce with friends as a hobby any amount of volume of alcoholic material and not pay any excise whatsoever. 
The member for Otago raised an interesting point relating to methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol. We quite regularly read in the newspapers of Indian weddings where scores—and sometimes hundreds—of people die because of methyl alcohol consumption. Is that what we will drive our young people to drink now? We know we have homebake with the drug scene; now we will have home stills producing alcohol. Through ignorance some people may produce methyl alcohol and die.