Harawira Hone: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Harawira Hone: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 30 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:5022. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Leader—Mana) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Chair. Kia ora tatou katoa e te Whare. I will come back to Mr Tau Henare and Mr Simon Bridges a little bit later. I know that some of this stuff has been said before but I want to reiterate that I want to support it. Thirteen years ago the purchase age for alcohol in this country was reduced from 20 to 18. Within a few years it became obvious that although the new freedom was very popular amongst teenagers and the alcohol industry alcohol-related harm to teenagers had increased. 
In 2006 Matt Robson introduced a bill to put the purchase age back up to 20 but it was defeated following a last-minute announcement that the Government would hold a review of the sale and supply of liquor to minors. That review was very low profile and achieved nothing. Since then however alcohol-related harm to teenagers has continued and become increasingly alarming to many people particularly parents doctors nurses police hospital emergency department staff the judiciary and virtually all other health and social agency workers along with the majority of the general public. 
In 2010 the Law Commission initially supported the split age proposal so 18-year-olds could buy alcohol in pubs but you had to be 20 to buy it from liquor stores and supermarkets. However after a comprehensive review of all the evidence about harm to teenagers from alcohol the commission’s final recommendation was to return the purchase age to 20 across the board. Why? Because that review showed that the consumption of alcohol by teenagers was a significant problem for the well-being of all New Zealand youth and a contributing factor in rates of educational problems depression self-harm suicide vehicle accidents injuries falls drowning fire physical and sexual assaults reckless and unwanted sexual behaviour pregnancy and termination of pregnancy. On top of all that there was also evidence that since the purchase age was lowered from 20 to 18 there had been a greater level of binge drinking not just by 18 to 20-year-olds but also in younger age groups a greater level of public disobedience associated with alcohol consumption amongst youth and more young people killed and maimed on our roads as a direct result of alcohol abuse. 
A few months ago I did a tour around my electorate and other parts of the country seeking Maori views on this issue. What I found was that amongst rangatahi Maori only one 18-year-old thought it would be a good idea to raise the purchase age back up to 20. Mind you when I asked a number of 16-year-olds whether the purchase age should be kept at 18 or lowered to 16 funnily enough 80 percent of them thought it should be lowered to 16. But this decision is ours to make. 
Our first priority should not be the profits of the booze barons generated from the expensive television ads developed and specifically targeted at the younger drinker and from the sale of alcopops specifically brewed packaged and marketed to teenagers. Nor indeed should it be the votes of the 18 to 20-year-olds. It should be the health and well-being of our young people. Returning the minimum purchase age to 20 in both licensed premises and off-licences is certainly not the answer to all of the alcohol problems this country faces but it is definitely part of the answer. 
I would just like to go back to some work that the Hon Tau Henare the Hon Simon Bridges and I were engaged in in terms of the tobacco inquiry. That was about another issue another product but we were very concerned about the impact of tobacco on Maori and in particular on young Maori. One of the things we went after was tobacco companies in terms of the packaging and the display and the reason why was that we wanted to try to reduce tobacco’s impact on young people. Well no moves are being made against alcopops and the kind of advertising that is targeted totally at young people. Until those things are done we need to raise the age to a point where we know that fewer of our young people are going to be dying on the roads and dying from the damage done by alcohol abuse. And at some time in the future once we are old enough and mature enough to deal with all the other issues in terms of access price and availability we can come back to the issue of age. Until then kia kaha tatou ki te tautoko i te kaupapa. Kia ora tatou katoa. 
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We must be strong in supporting the matter. Thanks to us all. 
]