Katene Rahui: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Katene Rahui: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 June 2009. Volume:655;Page:4405. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 The key mechanism we are voting on this afternoon is to support a specific restriction on the broadcasting on television of liquor advertising. It is a debate set within the context of the current regulatory framework for alcohol advertising: the power of the message. In this respect when I consider the steering group gurus—the Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC) the Ministry of Health the Ministry of Youth Affairs the Ministry of Justice the Ministry of Social Development the Ministry for Culture and Heritage the Advertising Standards Authority and the Broadcasting Standards Authority—there is no denying that those organisations with the power over the policy are able to guide the House to know whether this Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill sets the standards that it suggests it does. So when I read the views of ALAC that more detailed research is needed to understand the impact of advertising on Maori and Pasifika peoples and that dedicated resources should be set aside to address the impact of alcohol use on Maori I think that those views should be listened to and respected. 
This bill will take the blatant advertising of booze off our television screens. That is a good thing but it is small speck in an ocean of desperation; a system in which meagre benefits are transferred straight into the hands of grog sellers and where the owners of the alcohol outlets profit from the addiction of the people. In terms of this situation of misery the Maori Party is particularly concerned with the outcomes for Maori and particularly our rangatahi. We know that amongst young people there are no significant differences in the prevalence of alcohol consumption between males and females or between Maori and non-Maori. For once we are all equal. Starting with the good news first the 2003 ALAC study of New Zealand drinking trends showed that 50 percent of the population of 12 to 17-year-olds are non-drinkers. So often this place is obsessed with fixing up the problems and telling the country what is wrong with it. It is a classic case of the glass being half full or half empty. We need to be looking at this 50 percent figure. What is it that stops our rangatahi reaching for the bottle? What sort of whanau support is in place to mean that alcohol is not the answer? 
The other fact we need to promote is that the actual number of young people drinking alcohol is not increasing. The issue lies in how we drink. This is particularly so for rangatahi Maori. Maori youth drink less regularly in comparison to youth in general but Maori youth drink heavily when they do drink. According to ALAC’s study Maori youth drinkers were significantly more likely to have consumed large amounts of alcohol at least once a week at 23.8 percent compared with non-Maori youth drinkers at 9.8 percent. The culture of binge drinking across all sectors of our community has a particular impact on our young Maori kids. It is the nature of binge drinking that makes for high risk. I am pretty confident in assuming that it was our Maori kids that Maori MPs were thinking of in 2005 when 14 of them voted in favour of raising the sale of alcohol age to 20. 
We believe we need the sort of leadership that is legendary amongst Maori. That leadership dates back to a group of staunch Tai Rawhiti women who stood up against their men as those men composed the famous haka “Poropeihana” in opposition to the introduction of legislation on the prohibition of alcohol. Those women called on Apirana Ngata to stand tall to promote the message that alcohol abuse was not part of the Maori dream. I think now about all those cause champions in Kaunihera Whakatupato Waipiro or ALAC who are promoting the message: “It’s not the drinking. It’s how we’re drinking.” It saddens me to think that we are still struggling with the “go hard and drink until you drop” culture and the glory of getting wasted and getting out of it almost a century after those Ngati Porou wahine called on Ngata for intervention. When we think about this bill and the restrictions that will be placed on TV advertising perhaps we need to think more carefully about messages pointing out the hazards of drinking frequently and consuming higher volumes of alcohol. 
In researching the background to this bill one of the things that got me going was that over half of the young people aged between 12 and 17 years who binge drink said that their parents gave them alcohol and a staggering 48 percent of them reported that they are not supervised by an adult when they drink. So when we look at youth alcohol abuse just as I think the alcohol outlets should be targeted and not the boozers maybe our energies need to stop going into attacking young people and instead need to target whanau. We need an all-out comprehensive approach that holds us all responsible. We could look at how many parliamentary functions would be shut down if we started putting some limits around alcohol advertising sponsorship. Any members who go out on night patrol with the cops around their electorate will witness the cells filling up with grossly intoxicated young people on Thursday Friday and Saturday nights. How many fights are fuelled by liquor? How many convictions result from drink-driving or alcohol-related crashes? How many young people are referred to Youth Aid for disorderly behaviour? Will this bill address the fact that alcohol is a contributing factor in around 25 percent of fatal crashes and 20 percent of serious injury crashes on our roads? 
The Maori Party supports the regulations and prohibition placed on advertising by the liquor industry. Let us be clear: the industry is not interested in public health or youth development when it glamorises the power of alcohol as a mind-altering substance. The essential evil of alcohol is the attitude we hold towards it. I take great pride in being a non-drinker a non-smoker and drug-free knowing that for so many of our whanau alcohol exacerbates the issues that already confront them. I also take pride in being the mother of five Maori children who thankfully made it safely through their adolescence. But my youngest daughter had several friends who did not make it through and in many cases alcohol was the cause of their deaths. 
Sixty percent of Maori inmates say that alcohol or drug use was a factor in their offending. Whanau destruction goes hand in hand with alcohol abuse. We do not need to see any more photos on the 6 p.m. news bulletins of houses with bottles lined up outside against the wall to see the connection. Sure the booze barons and the corporate giants must be held responsible for peddling a killer substance across the counter but I have to ask who takes the first step in initiating change. We need research to liberate our families from dependence on alcohol. We need restrictions in place to ensure we put the brakes on a drinking culture that is motivated by getting totally legless and off one’s face. Most of all we need to have real alternatives to replace the keg or the bottle. We need whanau who can have fun without the booze recreation that does not depend on liquor outlets as the only venue and real opportunities to turn away from drug and alcohol dependence. 
Alcohol is still the most damaging drug in our society and the most frightening thing is that this drug is legal from the age of 18 years. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: It should not be a matter of “Just say when.”; it should be “Just because we can.” or “Just because we care.” We will be supporting the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill. Kia ora.