O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise in support of this bill the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Renewal of Licences) Amendment Bill (No 2) going to the select committee.Many of my colleagues have spoken of the damage of alcohol and I don't believe that anything other than a well-coordinated rewrite of the whole alcohol legislation will really address those issues and for that reason I'm a little reluctant to support one small part of the legislation which doesn't take into account the education and other strategies that will need to be in place if we're going to deal with the alcohol problem in this country. However in looking at this particular amendment it does make sense. I'm sure it is fixing up something that was an unintended consequence of the last Act when it was passed.I note my colleague Clayton Mitchell—the one concern you have is also a concern I have. It is the law of unintended consequences. While I will be supporting this bill to go to the select committee I am wary that this amendment will empower local authorities a little more than we intended if we're not careful although I have reread the Act and I think we do have a safety mechanism.One thing we don't want to do is allow this to be used to actually create dry areas. I'd hate to think that we were giving enough powers to the local alcohol policy administrators to actually shut down all the outlets in any given area because the unintended consequences of that would be that we would end up with sly-grogging. My own experience of working in areas where licensing trusts existed and where there was very strict control of alcohol outlets was that a vacuum was created and into that vacuum moved the local criminals. I can still remember seeing particularly those from the lower socio-economic area on benefit day being lined up by the local sly-grogger to take their whole benefit for the money that they had spent in their sly-grogging outfit because they didn't have the protections that the local trust had put in place.So in recommending this bill I just need to be aware of the unintended consequences. We could end up having a dearth of liquor outlets in an area—the old dry areas in Wellington here. We remember Karori and we remember Miramar in which I remember as a young police officer here there was a plethora of sly-grogging outfits. So we have to be just a little careful that we get this right which is why I'm a great fan—that when we do actually look at this whole alcohol problem we ensure that we do join the bits up and don't attack it piecemeal.Given that I think I am satisfied that there are sufficient safeguards in this that it will be used for the purpose—it is needed. It is quite ridiculous to think that while I have been personally involved in having licences removed from individuals the difficulties now of closing down a shop or an outlet—an off-licence which we have now defined—becomes very difficult. The fact that it has never been done statistically shows how difficult it is. We can get a manager sacked you can get individuals sacked but that shop remains whereas at least there has been the possibility of actually closing down licensed premises elsewise. The fact that we cannot do it now is a gap in the Act. It needs to be able to happen in those areas that have local alcohol policies and I commend this to go to the select committee. Thank you Mr Speaker.