Hayes John: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hayes John: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 06 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7298. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 I was not sure whether that was a 1-minute call or what. I do not have the expertise of Dr Paul Hutchison and a number of people perhaps even like Sue Moroney but I have lived in communities for example Saudi Arabia Pakistan and Iran where alcohol is banned period. I have lived on Bougainville at a time when alcohol was banned. I watched thousands of stupid young people make their own jungle juice from fermented coconut and write themselves off. What I am trying to say here is that it does not matter what rules you bring to this Parliament to control alcohol in communities if you try to ban it completely people will find their way around it. 
I want to focus on Part 6 of the Alcohol Reform Bill because I agree that we cannot lose 1000 people a year because of alcohol. In the Wairarapa I see alcohol causing significant problems for drivers. It also impacts on violence against women. It also negatively impacts on theft and other things. In my community the public have called for action because the pendulum has swung too far. The issue I think where we do not agree with the people in the Opposition is that they would like to impose nanny State - type regulations on our community whereas I think that this legislation that has been brought to the House by Minister Collins strikes a really good balance between not unfairly affecting responsible drinkers—probably 80 percent to 90 percent of us—and dealing with the considerable harm that alcohol causes. 
Specifically of relevance to the Wairarapa community are those sections in the bill that will empower our small communities whether in Pongaroa in Porangahau down in Featherston or even in Lake Ferry. It will enable those communities to determine where and how alcohol is sold. These communities will have much more input in these decisions. The local authorities will be able to limit the sale of alcohol and set conditions on licences. Councils are going to be able to develop local policies—for example to restrict the sale of alcohol or to determine trading hours of licensed premises. It will limit the location and density of licences. I hope the legislation will help us close down drinking sheds which are a problem in my electorate. I think it will also impose conditions on licensed premises. There will be also a very big impact I think on supermarkets and grocery stores because they are going to be able to display and advertise alcohol only in a single non-prominent part of their store. I think that tighter regulations on alcohol advertising and promotions will prohibit unacceptable practices. The bill as you realise makes it an offence to advertise discounts of 25 percent or more on alcohol outside of licensed premises. 
What I think that the legislation also does as it stands at the moment is to give a much better tool and control for parents who I think have felt a degree of impotence—that is what they tell me—when it comes to moderating the way their young ones deal with alcohol outside the family home. Parental consent will now be required before alcohol can be supplied to young people and their drinking will require supervision from adults. It will be an offence to supply alcohol to a person under 18 years of age without the express consent of their parents. This will close down what I see in Greytown every Friday night which is young people buying other young people alcohol. It will enable the police to have a tool to address that problem. I think that this will mean that good parents and responsible adults will have their actions reinforced by this legislation because the need for express consent gives our police a tool to intervene in unsupervised or poorly supervised parties such as after-ball functions. We are requiring all alcohol supplied to 18 and 19-year-olds to be supplied responsibly and there will be a fine of a couple of thousand dollars for supplying alcohol to a minor without express parental consent. This is sensible well-balanced legislation which I fully support. Thank you.