Smith Nick: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSmith Nick: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6198. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): This is a good practical bill that is going to allow New Zealand families to enjoy the spectacle of the Rugby World Cup being played on the opposite side of the world. I commend the work that David Seymour has done in introducing it to the House and also Jacqui Dean the chair of the Justice and Electoral Committee which has done a good job of knocking this bill into practical shape.I want to make a contribution both as a local MP and also as a member who strongly supports the pragmatism behind this bill. I do want to take issue with my colleague the list member from Palmerston North. Jono Naylor made some comments about the Manawatū rugby team. I want to remind him that they are going to be cleaned out by the Tasman Makos tomorrow night and although we on this side of the House agree on some things on provincial rugby parochialism runs deep. That actually goes to the core of the fact that rugby is one of the sports that binds—[Interruption] I will tell you that the Tasman Makos are in fantastic shape and that they are a great team. I will just warn colleagues from all around the House to watch out particularly those from Taranaki for the fins-up team from the top of the South.But the underlying point is that rugby runs deep in New Zealand it is good for our country it gets people playing sport and it involves us celebrating our nation and what we excel at internationally. What sorts of killjoys are there in parties like the Greens who would oppose New Zealanders simply being able to get up early in the morning to congregate at some of the sports bars across New Zealand and to be able to enjoy the spectacle of the Rugby World Cup? Actually it speaks volumes about what a risk the Green Party is to practical legislation in this Parliament.The part that the Green Party on so many issues just gets wrong is that it takes a completely disproportionate view of risk. The comments from Kevin Hague that we cannot pass this bill because there will be hordes of drunks coming out of sports bars at 8 o’clock in the morning and that they will be a threat to our schoolchildren—come on get a life! Our schoolchildrendo not live such sheltered lives that they do not see people getting pleasure getting excitement and also getting depressed as a consequence of rugby sporting events.At the last Rugby World Cup that occurred on the opposite side of the globe I went to one of my local sports bars and the place was packed. Why were people there? Well actually they enjoyed the game more and there was a sense of nationhood and camaraderie that does not exist when you sit at home in front of your telly by yourself. Why should communities not be able to get together to enjoy their country participating in an international sports event in that sort of community way?I can remember so well the game against France and leaving the venue the local sports bar at the end of that game. Everybody was in the doldrums because we had been kicked out of the event. Did I see bad behaviour on the streets? Did I see a whole lot of drunks out there actually causing harm? No I saw a whole lot of ordinary New Zealanders just enjoying their own national sport and why would we not want them to be able to do just that?In respect of how much bureaucracy we should impose—here are the real practical issues for some of the sports bars in Richmond Stoke and Nelson that have wanted to host these games. Each of them has lodged applications with the licensing authority but because it is not dealing with it as a comprehensive issue it has come to different views. Then you get into the unfairness issue as to why the Richmond sports bar should be allowed to open only for certain hours as compared with the one in Stoke or the one in Nelson.The sensible thing with a bill such as this is that we can ensure that we take a consistent approach across the country and allow everybody to enjoy the games rather than having the nonsense of having hundreds of individual applications going through licensing boards driving up the sort of bureaucracy and red tape that drives average New Zealanders mad.The thing that I just cannot understand from the Green Party is this: why is it when it comes to alcohol it wants to take an extreme adverse risk approach and say that it is not prepared to accept any risk at all. But when it comes to cannabis the Greens want to legalise it and liberalise it at the opposite end of the spectrum. There is just—[Interruption] I am sorry?Denise Roche: I’m saying: you don’t take risks either do you?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No I am just simply saying to the member that the Green Party on the one hand says that it opposes this bill because of the risk of the odd person misusing alcohol when on the other hand the evidence is so compelling about the level of harm that is caused from cannabis. Over and over again we hear an argument to liberalise cannabis laws from Green Party members and I say: what a grossly inconsistent approach the Green Party brings to this bill. That is why I have great difficulty with the position of such extreme cautiousness around the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill.I am pleased that the select committee has made the choice to enable all of the Rugby World Cup games to be enjoyed in this fashion. It is absolutely sensible I say to Mr Seymour for you to allow the bar or the licensed premises to make the choice as to what games they want to host. I do not know whether there are maybe large South African populations on the North Shore but the bars may choose to open there. In my area I happen to have a large number of people from the UK and the bars may choose to show those games. Why should it be that Parliament has to overrule what choice there might be? Let the individual proprietors make an assessment in their community about the level of interest and on the basis of that to then decide whether they are going to host those games.The very last point that I think we need to be real about is that for most upper-income New Zealanders who want to enjoy the Rugby World Cup many of them will have Sky TV and will be able to enjoy the games. But actually for lots of people with modest incomes Sky TV is a significant expense and as a consequence it is only through this bill that those people are going to be able to enjoy those games live. That is why it also makes sense for the large number of New Zealanders who do not have Sky TV who love rugby and who want to be able to get together in their community.The select committee has done a good job of providing logical protections to ensure that those licensed premises have to manage their facilities in a responsible way and that they have to take sensible precautions around noise control and around ensuring that if they are dodgy premises that have a bad record around licensing they do not get to use the provisions of this bill to gain a licence.I simply again commend the member David Seymour for sponsoring this bill and for the work that he has done with other political parties. I am still amazed that a party like the Greens would make itself look so out of touch with ordinary New Zealanders that it would oppose a sensible bill such as this which is simply about New Zealanders being able to enjoy their national sport.