Shanks Katrina: Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Shanks Katrina: Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to take a call tonight on the Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill. First of all I congratulate the member George Hawkins on bringing this member’s bill to the House in 2008. This member has a huge heart. He saw an issue in his patch and wanted to make a difference. He saw the destruction that liquor was causing where he is in South Auckland so he brought a bill to the House to try to address that. The bill is quite narrow; it is in relation to licences and the number of outlets there can be in an area. The number of outlets that have appeared popping up all over the place like mushrooms is a concern for all New Zealand. George is absolutely right when he says that one can walk down the road especially in the area where he comes from and on every corner one can see liquor outlets that are selling liquor in one form or another and selling it very cheaply. 
The Social Services Committee which I chair looked at this bill and we decided that we would not support it or recommend that it be passed by the House for the simple reason that times have moved on a little bit. Liquor reform has come into place and we have had the package that the Government has put out. It adopted 126 of the 153 recommendations from the Law Commission and these recommendations cover the bill that George brought in. The select committee voted down this bill before its return to the House for the reason that there will be legislation later on that New Zealand will debate that will cover these issues and many other issues as well. 
We all know that liquor and alcohol issues are not isolated just to liquor outlets. There is a much bigger discussion which this country has already had and we have had some clear signs from the people in this country that they are not happy with what we do with our liquor and alcohol or with the way in which we drink in New Zealand. In fact I have been out and about in Ohariu on that issue. I held a public meeting at which a cross-section of people in the community talked to me about what they saw were the issues with alcohol in their patch of Ohariu. It was interesting that one of them was a bar owner in the city—he owns a number of bars—but he was one of the biggest advocates for tightening up the opening hours. He said that he was happy for bars to be closed at 2 a.m. because after that time bars in the city make no money. He was happy to say that we should raise the drinking age to 20 because he did not want 18-year-olds in his bars and clubs. 
It was really interesting. Where we thought we would have opposition there was none. It was the sector itself that was sending clear messages back to me in Ohariu that people are happy for the provisions to be much tighter. There was a real cross-section of people at that meeting. We had a great discussion about demand and supply and I feel that a lot of this legislation is hitting the supply side of the issue: restriction of the number of licences restriction of the hours for drinking liquor bans and a restriction on the purchase age—the whole area to do with liquor and supply. 
But if we want to talk about our drinking issues we can see that it is not just a matter of supply but demand. It is the way we are drinking the culture of drinking and the way we accept binge drinking as acceptable. A couple of months ago I went out with the police in Wellington. They picked me up at midnight and dropped me off at 4.30 in the morning—it was a bit like a date. They showed me exactly what is happening in the city in Wellington in the early hours of the morning. It was pretty appalling and we have to see it to believe it. At 3 o’clock in the morning people are still queuing to get into clubs; their night is still going and they have another club to go to after the current one. 
I saw the way in which girls particularly were drinking on the streets: falling over feeling hilarious that they were all so drunk and throwing up into rubbish bins—it was a great blast. Well it is not a great blast. Actually when we are doing that and we think it is really funny then something is going wrong. And something is going wrong out there with the way our youth in particular think it is great to drink like that. But it is not just a youth issue: it is a generational issue. I know that within my own age group we still see people going out and getting wasted. But what signal is that sending to the youth of New Zealand? Not a very good signal at all. 
After having been out with the police and holding a public meeting I am now on a crusade around my schools. I am going into social studies classes at my secondary schools and talking to students about drinking. I ask them what their views are on drinking and I find they are really interesting. They are 14 and 15-year-olds and some of them are already going out drinking which is really interesting but a bit distressing. But the consensus coming out of those classes is that we have to do something about the way we are drinking. The students in the classes at the schools that I visited were OK with the drinking age being raised. 
It is interesting to see that there is a lot of support for change in the way we are drinking and support for the alcohol and liquor reforms. Therefore I am looking forward to seeing legislation come to the House in relation to the liquor reforms. I thank George Hawkins for the work he did in bringing this issue to the fore back in 2008 when he was really concerned about what was happening in his communities. That is a sign of a very good local MP. So I say congratulations to him and I thank the House for allowing me to speak tonight.