Shearer David: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6200. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert): First of all I will say that the Labour Party wants this to be a personal vote—a conscience vote. Alcohol issues have always been a conscience vote and we do not see the reason for making this bill any different. I think that we have got to get real about this. There has been a lot of talk about alcohol and the problems with it and yes there are some problems with alcohol but mixing it with our national game and saying that it is a problem just because they go together is actually pretty disrespectful to a lot of rugby fans out there who like to have a beer in front of their TV or with some mates. In my electorate which includes Eden Park we have had some real issues with 50000 people going along to the ground and coming out again. I have to say that over the past year or 2 the behaviour has on the whole been good it has been respectful and we have not had all of the problems with rugby and alcohol that seem to be being forecast by members in this House.This is our national game. Our team won the Rugby World Cup in 2011. We want to see them do well in the world cup that is coming up and we want to be able to see them do well. There are a lot of people as Dr Smith said—and I agree with him—who are not able to afford Sky or they do not have Sky and they want to be able to go somewhere to watch the games. I could add to what Dr Smith said. I mean they want to get out of their cold dark damp houses and go somewhere warm and dry like a rugby club to be able to watch the games with other people. This is our national game. We want to be able to celebrate and watch our All Blacks play. It happens only once every 4 years; it is not as if it is happening every single day. I would have thought that given the importance of the game we should be able to see it on this occasion.It is happening on the other side of the world so it is not happening in the middle of the afternoon which may have created fewer problems of course. It is likely to happen at 4 o’clock in the morning. I remember as a young kid getting up in the middle of the night to watch a rugby test with my dad because it was free to view on our television. That is not possible any more and I think that there is a discussion to be had about why it is not free to view for these very important games. It certainly is in Australia it is in the UK and it is in a number of other places where nationally important games are able to be watched free on national TV but it is not the case here. It is not and so I agree with what David Seymour has done in bringing this bill forward. I commend the Justice and Electoral Committee which has been looking at it. I think it has been able to modify the bill to take out some of the possible problems around noise etc.At the end of the day at 4 o’clock in the morning people are going to wander down to their local sports club they are going to be with a bunch of mates and they are going to be with their friends. Are they going to be getting on the booze big time? I do not think so. Most people who sit there will be watching the game intently. They are probably going to have a cup of coffee they possibly will have breakfast as well they may take their kids—I certainly will if I go down there—they will be watching the game and then they will wander off home. I really think that we are getting well beyond what rugby fans do today when we start talking about the excesses of alcohol and the doom and the gloom that is coming down the track as a result of this piece of legislation.As for the number of matches there was obviously a proposal at the beginning to restrict the number of games to 12 or 16. At the end of the day I think what is going to happen is that bars will make their own decisions about whether there is actually a market for people who are going to be watching Georgia play Canada at the bar and if there is not going to be a fan base for that they will not open. It seems to me that what we have in front of us is a sensible piece of legislation. It is only for a fixed period of time it is to watch our national game and to link the woes of alcohol too closely with rugby is a bit of an insult to a lot of rugby fans out there the great majority of whom are sensible responsible people who just want to watch their national game. Thank you.