Lees-Galloway Iain: Alcohol Reform Bill — Procedure In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Alcohol Reform Bill — Procedure In Committee 
[Sitting date: 23 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6062. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 Thank you very much Mr Chairman. I would like to pick up from where Dr Jackie Blue left off. Her point was that we cannot address the harm caused by alcohol just through legislation; we have to do it through other measures as well. Nobody in this Committee would disagree with Dr Blue on that I think. 
There has to be a range of responses to the harm caused by alcohol. But one of the responses is through legislation and this is an opportunity that is going begging. It is not what is in the Alcohol Reform Bill. Tim Macindoe spoke about the fact that a large number of the Law Commission’s recommendations are in the bill. They are and they are good and I will certainly be voting in support of the bill. It is a step in the right direction. But by no measure can it be called a reform bill. 
It is not a reform of our alcohol laws in New Zealand; it is a very very timid turn away from liberalisation. We have had decades of continued liberalisation. Yes this is a step away from that but a very timid and a very small step away from that continued liberalisation. And it is a real disappointment to all the people who have been lobbying who have been working so hard in this field who made submissions to the Law Commission who made submissions to the Justice and Electoral Committee who have lobbied individual MPs and who have presented us with the evidence—it is a huge disappointment to those people—that this Government has brought an alcohol bill that is nothing more than a timid slowing down of the decades of liberalisation that we have seen. 
Why do we need real reform of our alcohol laws? Well  
The Economist 
 produced a table a drug harm index and it showed the relative harm of different substances that people take recreationally: alcohol heroin cocaine methamphetamine tobacco cannabis GHB butane all the way down to magic mushrooms. Right at the top of that list for harm caused not only to the individual who consumes the substance but to the wider community is alcohol. And it is not ever so slightly at the top of the list; it is way out in front—way way out in front—of all those other substances. That does not mean it is not possible for alcohol to be consumed sensibly and safely. Thousands and millions of New Zealanders do that and we should not curtail their ability to do it. 
The Minister said this is about striking a balance. Yes we have to strike a balance. Some countries dabbled with prohibition almost a century ago— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: How did that go? 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: —and that was an abject failure. It was Mr Williamson an absolute failure and we would not want to go there. We have to get the balance right but the balance in this legislation is tipped too far towards the alcohol industry and those who are too nervous to really take on genuine alcohol reform. A better balance needs to be struck and that is still possible. It is still possible. I know that National Party members will be under the whip and at this stage are not planning to vote for the measures that are going to be proposed that will truly strengthen this bill but I urge those members to continue even at this late stage their discussion with their leadership and I urge all other parties in the Chamber to support those amendments that will genuinely strengthen this bill and make it a true reform bill. 
I heard as I was travelling to the House today Kevin Hague talking about the Ottawa Charter and how that establishes the environment for good public health. That is what a lot of these amendments are focused on today. It is not about trying to clean up the mess after people develop an addiction to alcohol or overuse or abuse alcohol but actually trying to create the right settings and the right environment in which the right attitude towards alcohol is developed. And we can do some of that through legislation—not all of it but we can do some of it through legislation. We have the evidence that tells us what are the right things to do: restricting the availability restricting the advertising increasing the price and lowering the legal alcohol limit for driving. All of those things are meaningful and have an evidence base behind them and will actually do something about the issues we have with alcohol in this country. We have the opportunity to do much much more than we are doing in this legislation at the moment. 
I would like to just touch on something. I will come back to it at the appropriate time but because Jackie Blue raised it in her previous submission I would like to raise it now. That is the aspect of the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper 132 that deals with alcohol areas in supermarkets. I am not convinced that it is quite all that it is cracked up to be and I think we need a more thorough examination of it. My concern is that there is a loophole in the way it has been worded that will allow the alcohol section in supermarkets to be right next to the entrance so it is something that everybody has to walk past. They may not have to walk through it but they may have to walk past it. If that is an incorrect interpretation then I would be very pleased for the Minister to clarify that so that we know what we are voting for. I certainly will not be voting for that aspect of the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper until we have that clarification. If that is the case I will gladly support it but if it is not the case then I think we need to take a closer look at it. 
I certainly will be speaking in support of and voting for those amendments proposed by my colleagues in the Labour Party and by the Green Party and some of the amendments proposed by the Maori Party that get the balance right. The Minister is absolutely correct: this is about striking a balance. But the balance is in the wrong place right now and we have some work in the coming hours and days to get the balance right. 
Hon Members 
: Mr Chair.