Locke Keith: Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill — In Committee 
Locke Keith: Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:15100] 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
:  
Following on from David Parker’s speech I think the question of liquor licences and the containers used for liquor is very important. I was present at the rugby league test between New Zealand and Australia on Saturday night so I had a very good on-the-spot experience of what went on. Thankfully I bought a $5 programme prior to the event which I could put over my head to protect myself from any falling missiles. 
I read that for the Rugby World Cup itself Heineken will be one of the official sponsors and Heineken is demanding that there be cans of beer for sale no doubt because it wants to advertise its products. What is happening is that we are being driven by multinational sponsors to sell the beer in cans. The sponsors demand that in return for their sponsorship and the millions of dollars or whatever the amount may be that they are paying for it even though the cans will potentially injure people at those games. We are losing control over the situation. It is a bit like the old  
Hobbit 
 furore when we were driven by Warner Bros; now we are being driven by Heineken. The cans will no doubt be even more dangerous than the plastic bottles were last Saturday night particularly if the cans still have a bit of beer left in them. 
That is one of the problems with the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill as a whole and with this particular part. The power given to the Minister for the Rugby World Cup is a bit like the power given to John Key to negotiate with Warner Bros. The decision will come out on the side of the stronger party which will be the multinational company backed up by the International Rugby Board and all of its official sponsors. We will have to have cans even if there is a risk of injury. I agree totally with what David Parker said when he asked why we cannot serve the liquor in paper cups or whatever. We will never overcome completely the problem of drunkenness. When I was walking to the game on Saturday night every bar in the Mount Eden area was packed to the gunnels with people tanking themselves up prior to the game. We cannot really control the fact that there will be drunken people at the games so we will have to handle the situation in the best way that we can. 
The other thing that David Parker mentioned was the booing that went on. I put the prime responsibility for that—and I have been along to watch Warriors games at Mount Smart Stadium—on the organisers of those contests. The thing I notice at rugby league games as compared with some other codes is the great partisanship on the part of the person on the loudspeaker the MC who rarks people up to support the Warriors and in effect encourages people to boo the team playing the Warriors. That behaviour carries over to the tests. Responsibility is not on “rugby league louts”; the responsibility is on the people who organise the loudspeaker system at Mount Smart Stadium. 
Really what happened on Saturday night was more of an issue of crowd behaviour. The first Mexican wave went round and a few people threw plastic bottles in the air. Then the more that it went round the more people understood that that was the thing to do and threw things up in the air wrongly failing to take into account the danger to people. The situation should not be seen completely out of proportion. Crowd behaviour can be controlled with proper control of the loudspeaker system and that was lacking in the first two or three Mexican waves last Saturday night as well. If the people who were running the show had intervened on the loudspeaker to tell people to calm down and that Mexican waves were all right but that people should not throw their stuff into the air that could have controlled the crowd’s behaviour as it was controlled at a later point by interventions on the loudspeakers. 
It is important not to give the powers available under this legislation to Ministers and particularly not to give them to the Minister concerned because the Rugby World Cup will be driven by multinational sponsors at the expense of the safety of the people who are participating. Thanks.