Donald Rod: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Donald Rod: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5369] 
ROD DONALD (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I think Richard Prebble has been reading the wrong report. This issue is about consumption of alcohol. Yes there is a revenue component to it but the report he should have been reading is the one that Brian Easton prepared for the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council  
Taxing Harm: Modernising Alcohol Excise Duties 
 because that is clearly the report— 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: What date was that? 
ROD DONALD 
: It was November 2002. That report is clearly the basis for the Government’s decision to change the excise duties on so-called “light spirits”. 
Bill English must be suffering from amnesia because once upon a time he was in Government and he knows that governments always increase excise tax under extraordinary urgency. The memory must be fading for him but the question I ask National ACT and New Zealand First is why are they voting against this bill? Do they not care about young people? Are those parties not concerned about unscrupulous operators who are peddling cheap booze to teenagers? Parents up and down New Zealand will not thank National ACT and New Zealand First for trying to block the Government’s efforts to close that loophole in New Zealand’s excise tax laws. 
The Greens support this bill for a number of reasons. Despite what some interjectors are suggesting our alcohol and drug polices focus on minimising the harm caused by those substances. We want to reduce the influence of alcohol in our society and reduce individuals’ alcohol abuse. We believe that this bill is an important step in that direction. That is because so-called “light spirits”—watered down ethyl alcohol or some other flavoured alcohol containing small amounts of sweetener—have been deliberately designed to benefit from anomalies in the tax system. They have been deliberately marketed to young people—not just those under 18 but those over 18 as well—and to heavy drinkers. According to one source— 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: ALAC. 
ROD DONALD 
: No not ALAC; it was probably one of your friends—the Distilled Spirits Association of New Zealand. According to that source over 1.2—[ 
Interruption 
] I am glad Mr Prebble confirmed that—over 1.2 million bottles of this stuff are being drunk each year. That is because for the price of a 750ml bottle of wine with an alcohol content of under 14 percent one can buy 1.125 litres of 23 percent proof pseudo-vodka or gin. This bill will almost triple the price of that product from around $9 to around $27. 
The Government expects to receive an extra $14 million from this tax increase. Quite frankly we hope it does not because we hope consumption will drop. From the Green Party’s point of view the whole point of supporting this legislation is that the increase will provide a price deterrent to young people in particular and to heavy drinkers and that consumption of light spirits and other alcoholic drinks within that 14 to 23 percent range will drop. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Cannabis consumption will go up. 
ROD DONALD 
: No I do not think that cannabis consumption will go up. I do not think it will have any bearing on cannabis consumption and until we have some sensible cannabis laws we will not get cannabis consumption down either. But that is another debate for another day. 
If the Government receives more money from this excise tax we urge it to provide more funding and support for community-based treatment services for alcohol addiction and more funding and support for youth groups to provide clear education on the responsible use of alcohol. I hope members like Mr Mark would agree with that. 
Ron Mark 
: They closed Queen Mary didn’t they? 
ROD DONALD 
: That is something that needs to be addressed as well. But that should not be the end of the story. We would like to see the Government go even further and tackle what the booze barons are getting away with—the insidious pre-mix alcoholic drinks known as ready-to-drinks and the fruit-flavoured alcopops. It is not enough to justify this legislation just in terms of trying to reduce consumption of so-called light spirits. I acknowledge that that is outside the scope of this bill but the Government needs to tackle those other beverages because they are also contributing to alcohol dependence and addiction problems amongst our young people. We hope the Government tackles those issues. We also hope that the Government tackles the anomalies in the cannabis legislation and catches up with what is happening in Europe in particular where common-sense law changes are under way to reduce harm. That is the focus of our policies on drug and alcohol—to reduce harm and in the case of cannabis to reinforce that it is a health issue not a police issue.