Sosene Lemauga Lydia; Dean JacquiLEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour): I'm very pleased to rise and take a call in this bill and to have the opportunity to provide a contribution on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Exemption for Race Meetings) Amendment Bill. I do want to acknowledge the member Ian McKelvie for putting this forward as a hard-working member and thank you to the members across the House for providing useful contributions. However it is my perspective that in my contribution I will oppose this bill. There are a number of reasons as to why I will not be supporting this bill in the conscience vote.So this amendment bill targets a small group of community individuals that they would have the ability to consume alcohol that under this bill they would not be required to apply for an actual liquor licence for the operators and owners due to their activity of small racing meets because they will be able to purchase alcohol from an off-licence operator transport that alcohol to the small race meet and drink to their heart's content so without having to be monitored or checked. Even if the local police receive a complaint it would not be followed up because it would be classed as legal activity.There is no ability for the police to monitor the drinking levels of these individuals and in my view it is a waste of police resource. The bill is a conscience vote for democracy reform and the definition is that the inner sense is to do what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives impelling one towards the right action. So I have taken the opportunity to speak out because I need to highlight to the House—and appreciate the views that have been put across—that there is far too much alcohol poisoning for the ability or availability for alcohol consumption.So I want to highlight just a couple of things in my contribution because in the area that I come from under-age youth illegally drinking alcohol is a real problem that Aotearoa or New Zealand in some parts of Aotearoa across the motu ignore. In my local area I just quickly want to highlight—because in a former role that I had with Auckland Council the area that I come from in Māngere South Auckland there are far too many off-licence outlets that provide a real problem because we have under-age youth who access alcohol illegally by asking older members of the community to go into that nearby shop and to purchase their alcohol. This is a regular real-life incident and an ongoing problem because our hard-working police members our hard-working health officials in our community continue to work with families that our young people—specifically I probably would refer to urban centres and some rural areas. There are far too many off-licence operators and shops that do this and I want to just quickly acknowledge Communities Against Alcohol Harm and those who continue to work on the ground.Back to the bill. What I read was Te Whatu Ora's report. They provided a public health perspective to the Governance and Administration Committee and I thank them for their work and their contribution on 12 September 2022. That specific report had a number of points and stated that Te Whatu Ora has a role of public health and alcohol licensing. In their report it stated how drinking levels would be monitored to protect under-age drinking levels and then the fact that excessive drinking levels lead always to alcohol poisoning.As I said earlier what this bill promotes is unregulated drinking environments which is a real problem for some of our youth across Aotearoa. This bill sends the wrong message to our community and specifically to our young people. As the authorities who are responsible to monitor and assist in minimisation of alcohol harm - related issues you could say that our young people are going to us if this bill is passed.So what is it? How do you distinguish what we can and what we can't do? Because specifically it states in this bill that small racing meets will be exempt—they will be exempt—that they are able to have alcohol with these events of small racing meets because they have purchased and then they are within their legal right to have that alcohol from that specific alcohol activity and who knows how much capacity will not be monitored. So this amendment bill it normalises alcohol as an ordinary commodity. It is normalised behaviour in that communities across the motu will have different variations or different perspectives of what they're able to do and not to do.I specifically want to point out that in the legislation and in the reports that I read the difficulty for police when they rock up—if they receive a complaint they will be unable to assess who is at fault for allowing alcohol to be consumed at these small race meets and that they don't have to worry about that. But given the role of police given that they protect our community across Aotearoa this replacement section 235A inserted by clause 4 of the amendment bill allows that very activity to proceed.Just as I wrap up what I also read in this bill was that a number of racing clubs did not support this amendment bill because they do not want people to come with their own alcohol and consume it at their premises. In fact I saw that six submitters supported this amendment bill but there were those 10 submitters who opposed this bill because this bill does not send a clear message across the motu. The legislation states that under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 the definition for consumption is clear that if you have an on-licence there are certain hours during the day that a club licence would be in force. This amendment bill replacement section 235A inserted by clause 4 has been drafted. Many submitters have provided wide views.Also I just want to mention the clubs who oppose this amendment bill: Alcohol Healthwatch Hāpai te Hauora the New Zealand Institute of Liquor Licensing Inspectors New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Te Hā Oranga the Salvation Army Transforming Attitudes Towards Alcohol Waikato Racing Club and the Whanganui District Council—they opposed this bill because they are concerned about the increasing alcohol harm and specifically the inconsistency of the purpose of the Act and the necessity.Why will horse racing be treated differently than other events? Loud and clear a contribution from New Zealand Police. Loud and clear Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand both who are big authorities in Aotearoa New Zealand. They have advised their perspective professional opinion based on evidence based on legislative policies based on the suggested proposal.The Ministry of Justice—just as I wind up—have advised that this bill undermines the current licensing regime and additionally would prevent police from providing a very clear perspective being not clear as to have the police powers to hold someone accountable if activity gets out of hand. According to all those reasons I have stipulated I remain opposed to this amendment bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): With apologies before I take next speaker can I please remind the member who has just concluded her speech of Speaker's ruling 49/5 which describes the convention of this House that speeches are not to be read. The member is still a relatively new member although not the newest member and it is time that the member transitioned and to comply with that convention. Thank you.