Goudie Sandra: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goudie Sandra: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 June 2009. Volume:655;Page:4399. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak to the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill. I note that the bill was originally introduced by the Hon Matt Robson in May 2005 so it languished for some considerable time before it was resurrected here today and it currently stands in Brendon Burns’ name. At its first reading this bill was treated as a conscience matter because it contained provisions dealing with the minimum legal purchase age and the supply of liquor to minors. This bill was split into two separate bills at the select committee: the first bill being the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill and the second bill being the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction: Purchase Age) Amendment Bill. 
This particular bill seeks to make a number of changes to the Sale of Liquor Act 1989. It does so firstly by extending the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Standards Authority. It seeks to do that so that the Broadcasting Standards Authority alone has the jurisdiction to deal with certain specified complaints that are currently dealt with by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board. So the bill is essentially moving those complaints from one agency to another. The Broadcasting Standards Authority does a very good job of exercising control and self-regulation over certain specified complaints relating to the broadcasting of liquor advertising. It has firstly established a fine not exceeding $100000 for a breach of this restriction and secondly it has restricted the broadcasting of liquor advertising. 
This bill seeks to restrict the broadcasting of liquor advertising to between 10 p.m. and midnight which has been termed “the watershed”. At the select committee National members were not convinced that the so-called watershed needs to be limited to between 10 p.m. and midnight for television and radio broadcasting of liquor advertising. In fact there is a compelling argument that the watershed should not apply to television and radio broadcasting. Many young people aged between 10 and 19 watch television and listen to the radio between 9 p.m. and midnight meaning that their exposure to alcohol advertising may actually increase if this bill passes without amendment. If advertising is condensed to between 10 o’clock and midnight and these young people are watching a significantly increased amount of advertising during that period their exposure would be far greater than if the current provisions prevail. That is why National members of the select committee were not convinced. I guess that raises some of the issues the Law Commission refers to in its report which is titled  
Review of Regulatory Framework for the Sale and Supply of Liquor 
. The report refers to some of those concerns around robust legislation. I might go back to it later. 
This bill is essentially surplus to requirements. Although it might be said that it could be concurrent with the current investigations and legislative proposals along the same lines I suggest that the bill is superfluous to them and should probably have been dropped way back in 2005 since when it seems to have languished. The bill has been overtaken by the Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill which had its first reading this year in March. The bill really is quite extraneous superfluous over the top or whatever you will. In short it is unnecessary in light of the Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill which had its first reading in March. However in spite of that Mr Burns has persisted and we have this bill before us now. 
The Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill also deals with the advertising of liquor and the more recent bill provides an integrated approach to addressing under-age drinking with a focus on increased responsibility for families and friends of the youths as well as the youths themselves. The Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill also sets clearer standards around advertising and ensures consistent monitoring with a focus on advertising that targets young people. The Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill also targets the areas of youth drink-driving by making it clear that any driver under 20 without a full licence cannot consume any alcohol. Finally the Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill addresses licensing laws to give communities more input into licence applications and to provide clarity around when it is appropriate for an outlet to have an off-licence. 
I will come back to the drink-driving issue. It is a significant issue that has been raised by submitters to the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill who would like to see serious offending through repeat drink-driving taken much more seriously and with far greater penalties in sentencing. In talking about the Law Commission and its review of the Sale of Liquor Act I tell members that it has been made clear to the Law Commission that liquor issues are a matter of priority for the Government. The commission has been asked to bring forward the report-back date and the commission in light of this direction from the Minister is to release an initial discussion document in July. The piecemeal and fragmented proposals set out in the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill provide another example of why New Zealand needs a coherent comprehensive response to liquor law reform. 
The Law Commission report I referred to earlier talks about the idea of a party-based vote for alcohol laws and suggests that the conscience vote for alcohol bills is in place largely because of historical precedent and that it would be preferable to have standard party-based voting rather than a conscience vote for future bills relating to the sale and supply of alcohol. The key reason for this is that conscience votes pose a problem to the quality and coherence of legislation and that tradition alone is not a satisfactory reason for continuing with the premise that the sale and supply of alcohol liquor laws should be based on a conscience vote. The suggestion from the Law Commission about alcohol bills is that there should be a move away from conscience votes because that would create a parliamentary environment that is stable and able to produce better legislative outcomes. 
Also in the report is a comment by the New Zealand Police which expressed support for a comprehensive review of alcohol laws. The statement was from 2008. The police voiced reservations about the use of conscience votes for the resulting legislation and it was their view that the benefit of any legislative changes to be realised had to be adopted as Government policy and that the tradition of addressing alcohol-related legislation as a matter of individual choice is not conducive to delivering a comprehensive and cohesive legislative framework. That was the view of the Law Commission and the New Zealand Police. So here we have a member’s bill that will be voted on with a conscience vote and is really superfluous to the Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill which had its first reading in March. That is why I will not be supporting this member’s bill.