Ryall Tony: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Ryall Tony: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5398] 
Hon TONY RYALL (NZ National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 I am much obliged to be participating in this debate as the clock strikes another 3 minutes to the midnight of this Labour Government. More and more New Zealanders are aware as they are going to sleep tonight that the combined forces of the Opposition in this country are holding our left-wing minority Government to account. We are holding it to account because not only has it sought to mislead the people of New Zealand it has misled its own caucus and it has misled United Future and it deserves to be punished for that. 
What an extraordinary circumstance it is when the Minister for Economic Development Jim Anderton who made himself a sort of patron saint of youth and those who are finding it difficult in this world the Minister who issues press release after press release taking credit for the reduction in youth suicide in New Zealand the Minister who tries to talk about young people is actually prepared to sell his capital for a cheap and scrawny little deception that this bill is about stopping young people from buying alcohol. That is nonsense because this bill taxes a whole lot of alcohols that young people do not buy. When was the last time an 18-year-old bought Madeira? When was the last time a group of 18-year-olds went down to Port Ohope near Judy Turner’s place and got boozed on a bottle of sherry? When was the last time kids went into a café in Christchurch and decided to go down to the River Avon and get sloshed on a bottle of port? It just does not happen. They drink ready-to-drinks. Are those ready-to-drinks going to be caught by Dr Bernie Ogilvy’s vote in favour of this bill? Are they going to be caught by Marc Alexander’s vote in favour of it? Absolutely not! 
That is what stunned me when Jim Anderton took a call and spoke in favour of this bill. He is a man who has earnestly tried to reposition himself in the last 12 months as someone with an interest in young people’s issues. He has issued a lot of press releases given speeches and he attended a young people and drugs seminar in Wellington last month. His was the keynote address for the sixth annual Young Person and Drugs seminar. He has tried to develop a reputation as being the person who talks for young people in New Zealand and I cannot believe that he sold his capital so cheaply to be associated with this bill. I suppose that that is what happens when one is a poodle to Helen Clark. One will sell one’s soul to get one’s name—[ 
Interruption 
] Here comes Clayton Cosgrove. I will get on to him next. The Minister Mr Anderton is prepared to sell his soul for a bill that will do nothing to stop young people drinking. 
I can hear the member for Waimakariri. He is named after a low-alcohol drink and he would not be the only person. There is a leader named after a brick block and now there is a member named after a low-alcohol drink. If that member ever remembers being 18—I suspect he was born 40—he will know that those kids do not go in and ask for Madeira. They do not go in and ask for a sherry and they do not go in and ask for port. As the Hon Roger Sowry said the owner one of the biggest liquor outlets in this country has said that this bill will not work because the drinks that are the predominant choice of young New Zealanders are left untaxed. 
The other point on which the National Party and the combined Opposition will oppose this legislation is that this Government does not deserve the extra $18 million it will get from this tax grab.