Jones Dail: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Jones Dail: Customs and Excise (Alcoholic Beverages) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5417] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 I believe that Rod Donald has just shot himself in the foot. 
Shane Ardern 
: In both feet! 
DAIL JONES 
: Absolutely both feet because he has said that he does not know what a light spirit is. If I were Rod Donald and I was reading something from the Distilled Spirits Association I would have said to it: “Give me an example. Give me one example. What are you talking about? Name one example—one 1.13 ml bottle or whatever it is”— 
Rod Donald 
: Castleton gin. 
DAIL JONES 
: Castleton gin? Come on gin is 37 percent alcohol as a rule. 
Rod Donald 
: Not this one; it is 23 percent. 
DAIL JONES 
: Gin is usually about 37 percent as a rule. 
Rod Donald 
: And so is Saratoga vodka. 
DAIL JONES 
: Is that what the Distilled Spirits Association said? 
Rod Donald 
: Twenty-three percent. 
DAIL JONES 
: And that is what it believes needs to be more highly taxed? 
Rod Donald 
: Yes dead right. 
DAIL JONES 
: So that is what it calls a light spirit—23 percent? 
Rod Donald 
: That’s right. 
DAIL JONES 
: Twenty-three percent is right? 
Rod Donald 
: Smell the roses! 
DAIL JONES 
: All I can say is that I find a light 23 percent alcohol spirit very very hard to believe. Are you telling me that young people drink Saratoga gin? 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member must not bring the chairman into the debate. 
DAIL JONES 
: Do they drink that 23 percent alcohol gin? Do they drink that 23 percent alcohol vodka? What a load of rubbish! Young people drink this type of thing. They do not drink 23 percent gin and they do not drink 23 percent vodka. 
Rod Donald 
: Come and visit me this weekend. I will show the member my— 
DAIL JONES 
: Come to my house. I have a 22-year-old a 26-year-old and a 28-year-old. They do not drink that type of gin and that type of vodka. 
Rod Donald 
: Yes they do. 
DAIL JONES 
: Look in my fridge! 
Rod Donald 
: The empties are there! 
DAIL JONES 
: Sometimes I just cannot believe what I see on the fridge door when I open up the fridge. It is not the type of thing that Mr Donald has been speaking about just now. He has been caught out badly. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: It’s a big world. 
DAIL JONES 
: I live in Auckland in the real world on the North Shore and boy there are some real parties on the North Shore and in Auckland. Mr Donald has been well and truly caught out. 
He asked why the Distilled Spirits Association was interested in this legislation. The reason is that its members cannot tax these drinks. They do not make any money on them because as I understand it they make the more expensive stuff. They are not involved with these drinks. As Mr Brownlee pointed out a New Zealand company makes about 90 percent or a considerable amount of these drinks. The Distilled Spirits Association does not make a dollar out of them. That is why it complains. I have been to see it. I have been given the story. The Distilled Spirits Association does not make any money out of these drinks but it does make money out of the higher— 
Rod Donald 
: But it is not complaining about those. 
DAIL JONES 
: It is. I have been to see the association members and I have spoken to them about it. They do complain about these drinks. They do complain about the ice cream drinks as well. I suggest Mr Donald goes and sees them and gets the blurb. I have been to see them. I have had a discussion with them. Mr Thomas Chin is doing his job. I have met him a couple of times. The Distilled Spirits Association does not get any money out of these drinks but it does get money out of the big heavy gins and the heavy spirits. That is why it is called the Distilled Spirits Association. These drinks are not distilled spirits. 
Rod Donald 
: They are not the issue. 
DAIL JONES 
: They are the issue. 
Rod Donald 
: They are not covered by the bill. 
DAIL JONES 
: Mr Donald of course said that he was not here when the Minister made his opening speech. He should have been here because if he had been here he would have heard what the Minister quite clearly was getting at and what Judy Turner was getting at. They have been duped. 
The Labour caucus was lined up. It was told one story. We have proved in this Committee in a short space of time that this minority Labour Government duped its caucus duped United Future and duped the Greens and neither the Labour caucus the Greens nor United Future is willing to admit its mistake. If they were honourable people they would admit their mistake and say that they got it wrong and made an absolute mistake. This bill will not take away this type of drink from young New Zealanders. This bill is purporting to do that but it will not. The speeches that have been made by United Future by some Labour members and by the Greens have been proved by members of this Committee to be absolutely wrong. 
This bill is a tax grab as usual—just as the Minister made $18 million out of his customs excise legislation to do with the importing the new computer and such like. Funny but it is $18 million again. Is it a lucky number? This is the second time in less than 6 months that he has made $18 million out of a new tax.