Allan KiritapuSALE AND SUPPLY OF ALCOHOL (RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 EXTENDED TRADING HOURS) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): I present a legislative statement on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I move That the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill and at the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 11 July 2023 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there will be a sitting of the House on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196.The Rugby World Cup is one of the most significant events in the rugby calendar. Supporting the All Blacks and coming together with family friends and the community to watch live matches is a special part of being a New Zealander. The bill will make it easier for New Zealanders to enjoy the men's Rugby World Cup by allowing eligible licence holders to extend their premises' trading hours to televise matches from the tournament without applying for a special licence.The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act sets maximum trading hours for on-licence and club licence premises—so I'm talking about bars pubs restaurants hotels and clubrooms around the country. Those maximum times fall between 8 in the morning and 4 a.m. the next morning. Many premises have shorter trading hours than this established by the local alcohol policies or as a condition of their individual licence.This year the Rugby World Cup will be played in France. Time zone differences mean that many matches will be broadcast outside the maximum trading hours for pubs and clubs. For an event as important as the Rugby World Cup we want to make sure that New Zealanders have options for enjoying live matches whilst also supporting the hospitality sector and this is what this bill does. I acknowledge that licence holders can apply for a special licence to extend trading hours for events. This process works well most of the time. However I understand the licence holders can find it difficult to use the special licence process for televised Rugby World Cup tournaments. For example the 20-day application process can present real challenges when the public demand for watching the matches in the later stages for the tournament is unpredictable. The special licence process is not well suited or flexible enough in these circumstances where licence holders require a responsive process. Licence holders can also find it difficult to meet special licence criteria as case law holds that televised events should be subject to additional measures of control such as presale tickets a door charge or a maximum cap on attendees. I understand that case law can be applied inconsistently making it difficult to predict whether or not an application will be successful when a publican applies.This bill is based on the amendments made for the 2015 and the 2019 Rugby World Cup which were also played in the Northern Hemisphere. The bill exempts eligible licence holders from the special licence process and creates a notification system instead where licence holders provide written notice to police and to their local councils. Not all licence holders will be eligible to extend their trading hours. The bill only applies to current on-licence and club licence holders that have not had their licence suspended or cancelled in the last year. Extended trading hours only apply to premises that will televise a live match. Extended hours will be treated as the premises' usual trading hours. This means most of the other provisions of the Act will continue to apply including those relating to host responsibilities. The general offences under the Act and police powers to shut down premises where appropriate will of course continue to apply.To minimise harm and reduce disruption during extended trading hours the bill includes extra conditions that licence holders must fulfil if they want their trading hours extended. For example licence holders will need to notify their local council and police at least seven days prior to the extended hours taking place and also provide a noise management plan. They will also be required to stop selling alcohol 30 minutes after the end of the match. We've done this twice before now so we have the benefit of drawing on previous experiences. This time around we're making it clear that licence holders must tell police and local councils if they change their minds about televising a match. We're also asking police to keep track of details about how many licence holders take up this opportunity to extend their trading hours. This will strengthen police's ability to plan and manage resources effectively and improve our ability to monitor and evaluate the impact of the amendments.We're committed to ensuring that all New Zealanders can enjoy the 2023 Rugby World Cup safely and responsibly. This bill provides a practical and administratively straightforward solution. It takes an appropriate balance between providing licence holders with the certainty and flexibility they need and supporting communities to cheer their team on whilst also minimising any potential harm.On this side of myself [gestures to the left] I am about a fourth-generation Frenchie so Oui oui!" go the French; but on this side [gestures to the right] mostly a New Zealander so up the All Blacks! I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."