Foster-Bell Paul: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Exemption for RNZRSA Clubs from Special Licencing Requirements for Anzac Day) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Exemption for RNZRSA Clubs from Special Licencing Requirements for Anzac Day) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee[Sitting date: 06 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10260. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National): I am putting forward Supplementary Order Paper 168 in my name which has been tabled and circulated. I am moving that it be adopted because the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Exemption for RNZRSA Clubs from Special Licencing Requirements for Anzac Day) Amendment Bill as originally drafted worked on the assumption that RSA clubs use general liquor licences. In subsequent conversations including conversations with the RSA and others it was made clear to me that there is a range of arrangements in place. Many actually operate under club licences. There are some who still operate under royal charters; there are a few remaining royal charters in existence. The Supplementary Order Paper does in fact deal with that particular detail.It also deals with some other small technical and drafting matters. There are a number of clubs—and members have alluded to this so far in the debate—that operate by subletting or are under the auspices of another club. An example locally in our region is the Petone Working Men’s Club which houses the Lower Hutt Memorial Returned and Services Association but there is a range of different arrangements in place including some that are within Cosmopolitan Clubs others in sports clubs such as bowling clubs and some even sublet commercial premises. So the Supplementary Order Paper does deal with that particular issue. I make no apology for seeking to retain the primacy of the RSA as the institution that preserves the memory of the sacrifices of New Zealanders at war rather than expanding it more widely to the bowling clubs the rugby clubs and the other service organisations which can continue to seek a special licence should they wish to commemorate Anzac Day with the service of alcohol.One complexity in our local licensing law is the issue of the local alcohol policy. Some localities have rolled out their local alcohol policy and they have put in place local default opening hours that supersede the national default. Other localities including here in Wellington have yet to implement their local alcohol plan. So this Supplementary Order Paper takes care of both situations. Whether or not they have yet rolled out a local alcohol plan the RSAs within a locality will be covered.Also there is the issue of the one-way door policy which my friend Clayton Mitchell brought up. It is absolutely clear to me that the legislation we have in place was designed to deal with early morning pub crawls and bar hopping. It is a very different situation from that where members of the RSA and their families and the wider community might want to come into the club rooms perhaps leave their coats go outside and lay a wreath take part in a solemn Dawn Service observance and then go back inside for the gunfire breakfast. We have a gunfire breakfast locally here in Wellington this year thanks to the work of the Hon Maggie Barry the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. It will actually take place inside the Arras Tunnel it might interest the member to know. So it will be very large and quite expensive to put on but it gives an all-weather option for those who are going to that big Dawn Service.But for those in small community RSAs such as my local RSA in Karori it is a practical measure that prevents door-hopping policies blocking what is a harmless activity in observing that gunfire breakfast. I think that Clayton Mitchell’s Supplementary Order Paper which deals with the name of the bill is actually a sensible one. In my Supplementary Order Paper there was also a streamlining of the name. I am agnostic as to which option is best but it is sensible to streamline the name to make it a bit less of a mouthful to say. Thank you.