Macindoe Tim: Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Macindoe Tim: Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 I am delighted to endorse and echo the fine comments and conclusions of my colleague the member for Hunua and as other members have done at the outset to acknowledge the considerable work of the member for Manurewa the Hon George Hawkins on this issue. I would also like to acknowledge my predecessor as the MP for Hamilton West Martin Gallagher who also demonstrated a determination during his time in this House to confront the problems caused by alcohol abuse in our communities. As some members will know Martin is currently a candidate in our local body elections and looks likely I should say to bolt in. He has been a Hamilton city councillor before and in fact was deputy mayor before he was first elected to Parliament. I welcome the prospect that he will be back on our council and I look forward to working with him in our respective roles. 
Martin and I both welcome this Government’s decision to implement the vast majority of the Law Commission’s alcohol reform recommendations and it is very good to have his endorsement of the Government’s lead in this area. We are both especially pleased at the powers that will be given to councils to implement local alcohol plans. That is a very important measure that my constituents our civic leaders the police our health providers social agencies and many others warmly welcome. 
In light of those comments and as we have heard from one or two members tonight there may be some people watching or listening to broadcasts of Parliament this evening who are puzzled that this bill will be voted down tonight. So I want to stress as other members have that it is neither a slight on the member for Manurewa nor a signal that members are taking these issues lightly. On the contrary it is because the problems the bill addresses are about to be presented to the House in a much more comprehensive measure and for that reason only the Social Services Committee with Mr Hawkins’ agreement—it was good that he came to a select committee meeting recently and talked to us—is recommending that this bill should not proceed at this point. I commend the member for Manurewa for concluding that events have overtaken this bill and that his work is done. It is a sensible and pragmatic decision in the circumstances. 
I look forward to discussing the measures in this bill and many other related issues when the Government’s response to the Law Commission’s report is introduced to the House in a few weeks from now. I agree with my colleague Chester Borrows that there are some ridiculous arrangements governing the sale of liquor in our communities at the present time and that we have major problems as a consequence. Almost unfettered access to alcohol is certainly contributing to our binge-drinking culture. In turn it is exacerbating a major health problem that is a special concern of mine—I did not know that my good colleague Dr Hutchison was about to mention it as well but I am delighted he has done so—and that is our nation’s significant incidence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. I try to raise awareness of that serious health concern in my electorate whenever I can especially when I talk to school groups and younger audiences. It is a tragic fact that hundreds of babies are conceived each year to mothers who have consumed too much alcohol. In many cases in fact probably in most the mother has no intention of becoming pregnant and drinks dangerously for some time before and after conception in complete ignorance of the dangerous risk she is taking. It is a lethal error. 
Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a lifelong disability that can have severe physical and intellectual consequences. It is a tragedy that we hear so little about it and that so few young people in particular are aware of the serious risk they take in drinking regularly and heavily while being sexually active. I hope and expect that the more comprehensive bill we will start considering in the House later this year will provide an opportunity for members to promote much greater awareness of foetal alcohol syndrome and a raft of other alcohol-related concerns. 
There is certainly a strong desire in Hamilton for vastly improved alcohol legislation and that is why I say to members opposite who have been interjecting regularly throughout the evening that it is important that the Government has taken the considered approach that it has. We have given officials the time they needed to convert the huge array of legislative reforms into workable legislation that will come before the House. The idea that we should rush the measure is likely to be a recipe for the mistakes that Parliament has made in the past when alcohol reform legislation has been too ad hoc and has dealt in a piecemeal fashion with parts of the problem. It is right that we tackle this problem comprehensively. That is what the Government’s response will be all about when the legislation comes before this House and I look forward to debating those measures when it does. I certainly am committed to ensuring that we get it right this time and that we take a major step in the right direction to tackle our alcohol-related problem in New Zealand. 
I conclude—I think I am the last speaker before the member has a chance to sum up—by commending the member for Manurewa once again for his work on this issue and for his pragmatic decision in relation to this bill at this time. I look forward to all members of this House participating in a very positive fashion towards the implementation of a really improved liquor control regime later on this year. Thank you.