Wall Louisa: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5739. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you very much. I am really looking forward to participating in this debate about the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill. I want to begin by highlighting my colleague Kevin Hague’s focus on Alcohol in our Lives: Curbing the Harm the Law Commission report that actually had over 3000 submissions to that report. It is true there is a negative correlation between alcohol consumption and some of our sporting events and in fact a challenge by the ministerial group around the link between alcohol sponsorship and sport and its detrimental consequences on our community. But what I would also like to highlight is that 2036900 Kiwis actually watched the 2011 Rugby World Cup final. So the relevance of rugby to New Zealand actually is immense.The first game was played in Nelson in 1870 and the statistics last year were actually really interesting. We have got over 150000 players but there was a 12 percent increase in women playing rugby last year. We have over 600 clubs. And so for me this legislation really is about whether it should be specific to the 2015 Rugby World Cup or actually whether it should be generic.As we saw in the Major Events Management Act 2007 we made it a generic piece of legislation that named specific events. So those specific events were the Rugby World Cup in 2011 the World Rowing Championships the Under-17 Women’s Football World Cup and the Cricket World Cup that we hosted earlier this year with Australia. Within that piece of legislation there was an ability for the declaration of a major event that then qualified the legislation to a future event.I actually think it is worth the Justice and Electoral Committee considering replicating that particular clause within that Major Events Management Act because what we want to do is use the time of this House wisely. I think there is an opportunity to potentially extend what this bill is trying to achieve which actually is to make it easier for those people who have existing licences whether they be on-licences or club licences to provide for 25 of the 48 matches that include the semi-final the bronze final and the final which will be partly or completely outside the national default hours to be able to provide New Zealanders with the opportunity to watch the Rugby World Cup.I want to commend actually in the time I have got left the Auckland Council which has been incredibly proactive. Through the Auckland Council’s local alcohol policy development it had over 2600 submissions. What it has done is create on its website in the special licensing area a 2015 Rugby World Cup special advice information sheet.A number of the councils have taken this issue incredibly seriously and actually there are provisions currently for people who want to extend their hours to do so but essentially—and I have tried to google it and find out how many on-licences we are actually talking about. We know that there are 600 rugby clubs and presumably they will all want to open and provide the opportunity for rugby-loving people to watch within their premises but how many on-licences have we got in Aotearoa New Zealand? I have got no idea but I am presuming that there are thousands—absolutely thousands. So the other part of this legislation that I do want to highlight is in Part 2 clause 5(5)(a) and (b) which means that if you have got an existing licence there is a responsibility if you want to qualify under this legislation to advise the relevant district licensing committee and the police. So there are safeguards built into this legislation and I look forward to further debate. Kia ora tātou.