Ardern Shane: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Ardern Shane: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5413] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is with some concern that I rise to speak in opposition to this bill. My concern is for this reason. On Saturday I went to visit my 18-year-old son who is a student at Victoria University and on the wall in his room in Stafford House on the Terrace was a huge orange poster with the slogan: “The first thing I’ll do when I graduate from university is pay back my student loan. Yeah right.” Members should not need to guess who is promoting that poster. It is orange with red writing. I wonder whether any of the Government members can guess or know who is promoting that. And right there beside the poster in the corner of the room was a stack of empties—I am a bit ashamed to admit that 18 though my son is—and members can guess what kind they were. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Sherry! 
SHANE ARDERN 
: They were not sherry Madeira Baileys or ice cream. They were none of those things. I will give members a hint: they came from Mangatainoka. 
Brian Connell 
: Tui? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Absolutely. They were Tui. 
I am astounded at the result of Nick Smith’s research robust though it was when he went down town to find out what young people were drinking. I wonder what sort of a bunch of namby-pambies there are in this town. Nick Smith came back with a whole lot of empty containers and none of them were cans of Tui. There was not one single can of Tui—or any other beer can I hasten to add. What is the alcohol content of Tui? 
John Carter 
: 4 percent. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: It is 4.8 percent I believe. Will that be covered by this legislation? When the honourable Minister talked in his speech about saving young people—like my son at Victoria University—from the evils of alcohol by taxing them $18 million will this legislation save them from drinking Tui? No it will not. It will not affect them one single iota. 
I say to the member over there on the Government benches that something occurred to me while I was listening to this debate. If one was going to introduce legislation to protect young people from alcohol there is one group that I would speak to. Who would that be? Members can guess who that group may be. I would go and talk to the young people. 
John Carter 
: Especially if you were drinking Tui. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: That is right. 
Ron Mark 
: No the United Future party. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: I would not speak to the United Future party. I would go to Victoria University which is not far away. In fact members could almost get to Stafford House in a couple of leaps; it is just near the end of the Terrace. I would talk to the groups of young people there in the common room—especially if one had had a few drinks of Tui although I am not sure about that other stuff over here. I am not sure whether one should go to Stafford House with that stuff but one could certainly go there with Tui. 
Ron Mark 
: And Speights. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: And Speights. I would go there and I would ask those young people what they drink and what its alcohol level is. I would say to them that we think there is too much binge drinking among young people and that we think that we will address that problem by doing something through the taxation system to try to discourage them from drinking alcohol. 
What do we have here in this bill? We have legislation that will once again penalise and bite the very hands of the people who voted for Labour and this socialist Government—the hard-working mums and dads out there who come home after a trade union meeting and who sit down in the corner to have a quiet Scotch whisky. They are the ones who will pay this mean-spirited grab-and-snatch tax. They are the ones who will pay. 
What will the money be spent on? That question has been asked many times in this debate tonight. What will it be spent on? One thing is for sure: it will not be spent on extra police to enforce the current drinking age. Will it be spent on that? Perhaps the Minister will take a call. His overwhelming concern for youth has been demonstrated tonight in the House. Will he spend the extra money on more police to enforce the current drinking-age laws? The answer is no. What will the Government spend that money on? What will that money go into? One thing is for sure. I know the Chardonnay socialists and I know that Chardonnay will not have an extra tax—