Kedgley Sue: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction)  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Kedgley Sue: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction)  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:625;Page:20517] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 Like the ACT party the Green caucus is treating this bill as a conscience issue. Like ACT two Green members will be voting to send it to a select committee for debate; the remaining seven Green members will oppose it because we believe that the age-limit should remain at 18. We will recommend instead that a select committee inquiry be set up to have the debate which everyone says is so needed on how to reduce the harm caused by alcohol in society and how to change the drinking culture especially amongst our young. 
All of us agree that there is a serious problem with some teenagers binge drinking and we all support the provisions to tighten liquor advertising on television—though some of us think they do not go nearly far enough. We agree that the current law is not being enforced properly and that we need far more resources to ensure that it is enforced and that existing penalties are properly enforced. But where most of us part company with the supporters of the bill is that we believe that raising the drinking age will not be a solution or a panacea to teenage binge drinking or a substitute for our taking real action on the drinking culture in New Zealand. In our view age is not the real issue; the issue is the attitude we have towards alcohol. 
The problem of teenagers binge drinking is a reflection not of the legal age-limit but of a drinking culture that pervades New Zealand. It is a culture that is a hangover from the 1960s 6 o’clock swill a culture that affects all age groups not just the young and a culture that tolerates and indeed encourages drinking. If we are serious about trying to restrict young people’s access to alcohol why do we allow it to be sold in supermarkets which young people frequent? Why do we allow endless advertisements glamorising and promoting alcohol which young people see every time they turn on their television sets? Why do we allow alcopops and alcohol iceblocks to be targeted at our young? If this Parliament is serious about reducing the harm of alcohol why do most members of the Health Committee oppose something as simple as putting labels on alcohol that warn of its harmful health effects? It simply does not make sense to pass a law criminalising drinking by 18 and 19-year-olds while doing nothing significant to change the drinking culture in New Zealand. Young people particularly those who are convicted of under-age drinking will see it as utterly hypocritical that a society that tolerates and encourages drinking says it is unacceptable and criminal to drink at 18 or 19. As a recent  
New Zealand Herald  
editorial stated until adults change their drinking habits it seems unlikely that teenagers will mend their ways no matter what the law says. 
We question too whether raising the drinking age will reduce alcohol consumption by teenagers or simply drive it underground. Is changing the law really going to stop university students aged 18 and 19 from drinking? I do not think so. Why should it be acceptable for 18-year-olds to be able to vote to go to war to become a member of Parliament to get married or to have a civil union but not to drink? Why should it be acceptable for an 18 or 19-year-old to drink in his or her own home but not in a bar or cafe? It simply does not make sense. Why if the present law is not being enforced do we think passing another law will result in more effective enforcement? Members will recall that the Youth Parliament debated this issue at length. The core of its argument was that the age-limit ought to stay the same the law ought to be properly enforced and our drinking culture changed. Why not listen to the representatives of youth from around New Zealand whom we paid to come to this Parliament to debate this issue? 
So before we raise the age-limit again let us control the promotion and endless sponsorship of alcohol including amongst young people and on campuses. Let us ban the advertising of alcohol on television and above all enforce the current law. Research showed in the 1990s that young people see on average 300 to 400 alcohol advertisements every year and the more they are exposed to advertisements glamorising alcohol the more likely they are to want to drink. So if we are serious let us start with getting those advertisements off television. And yes there is an argument for allowing the bill to go to a select committee for debate but frankly we can equally have a Health Committee inquiry or other select committee inquiry to allow a wide-ranging debate on this issue.