Davis Kelvin: Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Davis Kelvin: Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:667;Page:14257] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 Te mea tuatahi maku hei timata korero he tuku atu i nga whakaaro ki wera nga totara o te Ao Maori kua hinga atu ara ko Ta Archie Taiaroa raua ko Jim Nicholls. Na reira e kourua haere haere haere atu ra. Ka oti. 
[ 
To begin with the first thing for me to do is to convey condolences to those totara of Maoridom who have passed away: Sir Archie Taiaroa and Jim Nicholls. So to you two depart farewell journey on. It is done 
.] 
About 2 months ago my brother was sworn in as a District Court judge at our marae and his first week on the job was down in Wellington at the court around the corner from Parliament. On the Wednesday evening after 3 days on the job we had dinner at Parliament. Of course I asked him about his impressions of his first 3 days on the job. He said to me that it was very sad but if it were not for alcohol he would be redundant. He said that 80 to 90 percent of the cases that he had seen in those 3 days were the result of alcohol-related incidents. I think we really need to reflect on the fact that a District Court judge is basically saying that he would be redundant if it were not for alcohol. 
I am on the horns of a dilemma because I am also Labour’s spokesperson on tourism and the tourism industry and the alcohol industry are comfortable bedfellows. We have to realise that tourists come here and enjoy a drink—they enjoy the wine the bars and that whole scene—and it is an important part of tourism. We do not want to be killjoys. I was talking to a person in the tourism industry who said to me on the whole alcohol issue that I had to remember exactly who I am the spokesperson for. I am the spokesperson on tourism. I said to him that was right but he had to remember that long before I was the spokesperson on tourism long before I was a member of Parliament and in fact for all of my life I have been Maori. I have to balance up the effect and the impact of alcohol on Maori. 
I will quote a few things from the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand’s Maori action plan 2009-12. It said that 66 percent of Maori youth aged between 12 and 17 years identified themselves as drinkers. These people are not even legally allowed to drink yet 66 percent of Maori in that age group already identify themselves as drinkers. Thirty-six percent of Maori surveyed were binge-drinkers with Maori adults reporting that they had consumed on average 8.9 standard drinks on the most recent occasion they drank alcohol—so 9 standard drinks. Some people would have had one or two and others would have had 15 16 18 or 19 standard drinks on the most recent occasion. Thirty-one percent of Maori adult drinkers reported getting drunk on the most recent occasion with 16 percent reporting that they had intended to get drunk on that occasion. Worse still 45 percent of Maori youth aged 15 to 17 reported getting drunk the most recent time they drank alcohol with 25 percent—a quarter—reporting that they had planned to get drunk. Sixty-six percent agreed that it is acceptable to get drunk at parties; we just heard the member Katrina Shanks talking about how people go to Courtenay Place and deliberately get drunk. 
This vulnerability of our intoxicated youth worries and concerns me. Most Maori drinkers reported having experienced some form of harmful or regrettable experience from their drinking in the previous 12 months. Added to that  
Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey  
also identified that the most common lifetime disorders among Maori were anxiety disorders at 31 percent followed by substance use disorders at 26 percent. I would say that the anxiety disorders were contributed to in no mean way by the substance use. 
The facts that I have just read out from that report are supported by my experience up in Kaitaia as an educator. I recall having a conversation with a policeman who told me that on Thursday Friday and Saturday nights the police go around picking up and dragging up intoxicated school-age students—primary school age intermediate school age and college age—from the alleyways and the car parks of Kaitaia. He told me how they have to drag them into the police car and half the time the kids vomit in the back. The police get them home to the parents knock on the door—the parents do not know where they have been—and basically give the children to the parents telling them to make sure they do not choke on their vomit. That is the reality of the situation in Kaitaia. 
This policeman told me about one particular girl who went to the school where I was principal whom he had to pick up one night when she was totally comatose. I said that that girl’s family could not afford to buy alcohol and did not have the money for it. I asked how she got the money to buy the alcohol. He said to me that she does not buy the alcohol. She gives favours to the guy at a particular liquor store and that is how she gets her alcohol. We have to be mindful. At the time this girl was 12 or 13 years of age she was giving favours in return for alcohol. 
The Law Commission report  
Alcohol In Our Lives: Curbing the Harm 
 said: “There is little scope under the present Act for communities to have a say in licensing decisions.” The Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill which George Hawkins has brought to the House changes that. It gives communities the chance to have a say in alcohol licensing decisions. The report also says: “A common theme in the consultation was the disempowerment many people feel because the existing legal framework effectively discounts the views of the local community when making decisions about where and how alcohol is sold. Several people told us the category of people who can object to a licence application needs to be widened but the real concern of many was that even though they lived in the neighbourhood there was no basis on which they could object to a licence application other than in relation to the suitability of the applicant.” This bill changes that. 
The report says: “That the community had alcohol-related problems and locals did not want any more liquor outlets in the area was no basis for an objection. Community groups are increasingly expressing their concerns about alcohol and its impacts as our consultation demonstrates. They want more say in decisions about where and how alcohol is sold supplied and consumed in their neighbourhoods.” The bill that George Hawkins has brought to the House does exactly that. It gives the communities more say on where and how alcohol can be sold. Also the bill “requires an applicant for an on-licence or an off-licence to carry out an evaluation of the social impacts on the community.” I ask how one carries out an evaluation of the social impact on a 12 or 13-year-old girl who has to give favours to somebody in exchange for alcohol. The social impact on her life and her family’s life into her future is immeasurable. 
We as Maori have a bit to answer for ourselves. I was just talking to my colleague Stuart Nash about when our marae dining hall was opened in 1990 up north and we had 50 kegs of beer. We got through only 38 of them that night which because of our attitude at the time we laughed about. That illustrates the attitude that we have towards glorifying alcohol. As I stand to speak now I am embarrassed by that attitude from us as Maori which allows alcohol to become such a big part of our lives. Hopefully this bill will go some way to changing that attitude but it certainly gives communities the power to make decisions regarding alcohol within their communities. Thank you.