Dean Jacqui: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6181. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): I want to congratulate the member David Seymour on bringing his member’s bill to the House and then to the Justice and Electoral Committee. We had a very short time in which to consider this bill consider submissions to the bill and then return the bill to the House in a more robust form than we had got it in as we have done today. I want to also join the member in charge of the bill in acknowledging the work of the Justice and Electoral Committee; not only the members of the committee but the clerks of the committee and parliamentary counsel as well who did a significant job of editing and rewriting the bill and facilitating the meetings that the committee called and attended. I believe we have returned a bill that is worthy of the intent in which it was introduced.I want to talk about the process a little and to acknowledge those submitters who responded to the call to provide the committee with written submissions. It was gratifying to see that although there was an extremely tight time frame for the hearing of submissions andthe consideration by the committee those people who were interested and those people whom we wrote to in particular took the time to have their views expressed to the committee. We did consider the views expressed and raised and debated a number of points that were raised but I will say that a number of those submissions addressed the harms of alcohol in our society.That brings me to one of the reasons why a substantial change has been made to this bill. Although it was introduced as a stand-alone bill we are recommending to the House that it be incorporated as an amendment to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.In doing so—incorporating it as an amendment to the principal Act—it then allows section 259 of the Act to apply and that section and other sections of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act deal with conditions and the breaching of conditions and the ability to enact penalties.So to those submitters—and I thank them and the committee thanks them—who took the time to submit to us on the harms of alcohol in particular I say yes we considered your objections. Yes we believe that by making this member’s bill an amendment to the principal Act those harms will be addressed. Those harms are also addressed in several other ways. As the member in charge of the bill just mentioned one of the mechanisms around this bill is that a licensee who wishes to trade outside of their licence hours must within 7 days of the Rugby World Cup game supply the district licensing committee and the police with a notice. That notice needs to detail the mitigation measures that that licensee will undertake whilst they are open for a Rugby World Cup game.It is worth noting that those conditions that the licensee notifies the police and district licensing committee of cannot be more lenient than would be the case under their normal licence. Also they must supply to the police and district licensing committee and have posted on their premises before and during the game those brightline conditions that David Seymour mentioned which are: no dumping of the empty bottles no use of outside courtyard areas and no broadcasting of music for the duration of the game. The provisions of this bill will allow licensed premises that are wishing to trade expressly for the televising of Rugby World Cup games to open for an hour before the game. Of course they are open for the game and they can be open for an hour after the game but the sale of alcohol must cease half an hour after the last whistle blows. The premises must be empty by an hour after the game has finished.I have talked about the benefit which is that a licensee who wishes to trade outside their normal licensing hours under this regime will need to provide a notice to the police and district licensing committee with their conditions. I am anticipating that it will be in the nature of a one-pager. It has to be submitted for each game but in reality if a licensee wishes to be open for 10 games they must notify the police of that but they can submit the same conditions and place another date on the form. The intention is not to make this a difficult process. So those are the benefits.Let us talk about the penalties because having attached—if it is the will of the House—this bill to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act section 259 will apply and all the penalties contained in the principal Act will apply. The police and also licensing inspectors will have the ability to close down a premises if transgressions in its licensing conditions happen during a Rugby World Cup game during that period. The penalty is that if a transgression is noted by the police or licensing inspectors then that licensee will no longer be able to avail themselves and the conditions of this amendment. Nor will they be able to be eligible to trade under this legislation if they have had a penalty against them which would be a variation of their hours within the 12 months preceding the Rugby World Cup.So what this bill intends to do is to fill the gap for the public of New Zealand that has been left by onerous special licence conditions. We heard of a number of special licences that imposed onerous conditions so as to make it not worthwhile for licensees to contemplate staying open for the Rugby World Cup. I am very well aware that some district licensing committees can do things like requiring patrons to buy tickets at the door requiring patrons to dress up as if they were children and requiring the premises to have a guest speaker so much so that the conditions have had a dampening effect and a very bureaucratic impact on licensees and they are just finding the whole process too difficult and choosing not to trade. So this bill intends to fill that gap. However we did hear of an instance along the lines of say Auckland’s Viaduct Basin for example where a number of premises are out in the open. They and any other licensed premises in New Zealand can avail themselves if they find they do not fit into the parameters of these provisions and can then also proceed with the special licence.We do have another opportunity to speak on this bill today. It has been a very truncated process. It is a process that I can say the Justice and Electoral Committee has taken very seriously. Again I want to thank the committee and everyone else involved in making a good contribution each and every one of them to what is going to be the success of this bill. I think we have landed it in a pretty good place. Thank you.