Mitchell Clayton: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5737. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First): I just wish I could swap places with Kevin Hague and have those extra minutes. I have got a lot to say—[Interruption] Yes I hope he did not eat into my time. But before I get started I have to talk to a couple of things that Mr Hague brought up. I do commend him for supporting this bill through and I also commend the member David Seymour for bringing this bill forward although it is a band-aid on the bigger problem here.We talked about harm minimisation and I just want to reflect on that for a second. Harm minimisation is a buzzword of the 21st century and we are living in a period of harm minimisation. If you go back to the 1990s the 1980s the 1970s and the 1960s when binge-drinking on licensed premises was rife and look at what we have today you see that we are in a much safer environment. In fact drinking on licensed premises today is much better than it has ever been. You have to have licensed managers duty managers security that has been licensed and you have to have food available. You have to have all of these things to make sure that your licence is operational and of course you are very very heavily regulated by the police the health department and all other departments if you have gaming and so forth.When I consider that 75 percent of all alcohol consumed is consumed off licensed premises and is generally sold to people by 17-year-olds in supermarkets there is very little being done about managing that harm. I could go off and talk on a tangent but when 25 percent of alcohol is consumed on premises that are safe and sound and fit for purpose it brings me to the point about the current legislation not being fit for purpose. I think of all the consultation that was put through 2 years ago to push that legislation into place and the engagement process that was designed in order to get the communities to come up with the decisions about what they want for their community—i.e. allowing them to decide how late licensed premises can operate and what days they can operate on. Those are the sorts of things that the district licensing committee has the power to do. Yet this legislation—this clunky not-fit-for-purpose legislation—is outdated in so far as it is very ambiguous when it comes to a special licence condition.When we look at a special licence it says that for a special licence to apply the social gathering must involve people sharing a common interest with the principal activity of the function being other than the consumption of liquor. Yet I have been dealing recently with a liquor licence application that has gone through in Rotorua where the police have come out and said that this event is not fit for purpose. The council has signed off on this which is the voice of the people. The health department has signed off on this and is making sure that they are complying with all the health issues and the police are saying—and this is for Hennessy’s Irish Bar in Rotorua: “Nothing in this application is special. It is simply an extension of the trading hours to watch a televised event. With no pre-sale tickets the applicant is allowing anyone to attend which is by default a way of extending the hours and this approach goes against the nature of a special licence.”Goodness me! I could have myself a birthday party and go to a licensed premises and invite a hundred guests and get an extension of hours yet I would suggest that rugby netball and many other events that we have got going on around the country are at the heart of what New Zealanders give themselves national pride about.I want to say New Zealand First does not condone the liberalisation of liquor licensing laws. We merely want to get some clarity around those special licence applications particularly as so many of these applications have been turned down around the country by police and yet have been supported by the councils. This is the problem that we have got. The only way to thrash this out is in the select committee stage to go through those issues. I would like to hear from submitters. A lot of people are very passionate about this. New Zealand First does not support liberalisation but some clarity is required to get the current legislation ironed out once and for all. Thank you.