Flavell Te Ururoa: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 24 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6174. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 I very much appreciate the opportunity just to sort of wrap up the contributions that are encompassed in my awesome Supplementary Order Paper which I think most of the Committee is going to support and that is on this question about pricing. I appreciated the comments from the Minister in the chair the Minister of Justice. I was watching up in the office and listening to the debate and I did acknowledge some of the points that she made but as she said we all come with a view to trying to make some contribution. I think she talked about this bill being a moderate bill. We would hope that we would take “moderate” on to a little bit better than moderate and that is why all of us are contributing today. 
Just to wrap up in terms of a number of the parts in my Supplementary Order Paper I wanted to talk about minimum price. There are two parts to this and I will refer to the explanatory note which pretty much wraps it all up. I am talking about a new provision that would be added to set a minimum price per unit of alcohol and to outline the offences related to the sale of alcohol below the minimum price. I acknowledge that minimum pricing is a sort of one-shoe-fits-all approach. It certainly targets the younger ones; I think one of the speakers talked about a box of “woodies”. That is not anything that I know too much about—a box of “woodies”—but I hear our young people talking about it a lot. It is so easy to go in and just get those sorts of drinks and there are others of course. There are all sorts of mixtures that I do not see too much of. 
And then of course at the other end of the scale you have got the older people and I think the Minister referred to those who have their regular bottle of sherry every week. They might be hit by really exorbitant prices and costings which would be unfair to them. One of the best days that I have ever had in this Chamber was one night when we were talking on a bill that I forget the name of. The best thing about this day was that the Hon Simon Power was the Minister in charge of a particular bill and he took the time out that night—it was one of the few times I have seen this in the Chamber—and he listened to the debate. It was obviously a controversial issue that I cannot remember. One of the other members may be able to recall it. Was it related to justice? 
Kevin Hague 
: It was Kennedy’s. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Oh OK. It was one night when he actually came down and made a change and I suppose the point I am trying to make is that there is opportunity to make change to this bill. Although I understand the concept of one shoe not necessarily fitting both situations—dealing with the young ones yet possibly disadvantaging the older group—I think there may be room for movement. If it was good enough for Simon Power on that particular occasion I would kind of like to hope that it is good enough for the Minister to make adjustments if appropriate to deal with this issue. 
 Someone mentioned how you actually apply some sort of formula to recognising and dealing with the whole notion of minimum pricing. And lo and behold I can help you out because in my Supplementary Order Paper there is a formula that is based on a minimum price per unit versus the strength of the alcohol versus the volume of the alcohol in litres. How we got to that formula I am not exactly sure but I think we were given advice by those far more knowledgeable than me about working out formulas. But if the Minister was looking for a formula well there is a starting point at least. So it is possible to work it out. 
The question about minimum price is one question but another one is talking about raising the price of alcohol and whether that does contribute in any way shape or form to minimising the harm. The evidence that I have come across and other speakers have talked about is that raising the price of alcohol is internationally evidenced as the best strategy for reducing alcohol-related harm. It stands to reason because it is the same philosophy the same drive that has moved the Minister the Hon Tariana Turia in respect of cigarettes. So there has got to be something in there. Clearly as was also evidenced by a number of speakers cheap products are favoured by younger drinkers who are more likely to spend some of the pocket money they might get from their parents on those cheaper drinks. The evidence shows that widespread availability of cheap alcohol products encourages excessive and harmful drinking. In the last decade alcohol has clearly become more affordable relative to income with the cheapest alcohol available at around 74c per standard drink.