Hudson Brett: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHudson Brett: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Extended licensing hours during Rugby World Cup) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6202. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRETT HUDSON (National): It is a pleasure to rise in support of this bill. It is a very very good bill. I commend Mr Seymour for bringing this to the House. I commend the Justice and Electoral Committee for the work it did.Not only is rugby our national sport but the Rugby World Cup is the world’s third-largest sporting event. This bill when it gets through a third reading which I sincerely hope it will do today will ensure that all New Zealanders who want to watch it will have the opportunity to do so especially those who cannot afford or do not have Sky television. As Mr Seymour pointed out in his contribution to this second reading debate the overwhelming majority of people who will attend who go to bars or enjoy drinks with their sporting events are responsible. They are responsible in their drinking. They are responsible in their general behaviour. They are law-abiding people.On this side of the House and with those voices we have heard in support of this we simply do not believe that by opening licensed establishments for a few more hours over the course of the Rugby World Cup generally law-abiding well behaved responsible New Zealanders are suddenly going to morph into reprobates who are drunk and pouring out into the streets causing mayhem. It is simply not going to happen. It did not happen when the Rugby World Cup was held in this country in 2011. It did not happen when the Football World Cup was on and certain bars around the country opened in the early hours of the morning so that people not from New Zealand but whose original country teams were playing could enjoy those games.David Seymour: You mean immigrants.BRETT HUDSON: They were immigrants. And what we saw were images of people enjoying their country locked in battle in a round-ball game against traditional adversaries and loving it; just hugely passionate—the sort of thing that we would like to capture I think in our support of our team. This bill is going to permit that to happen. But one thing we did not see during that Football World Cup was people pouring out into the streets unable to control themselves causing mayhem. We did not see it then. We will not see it when this bill is successfully passed today.What I would like to say having sat on the select committee for a couple of hours during the course of these deliberations and considerations is that it is quite possible as the votes unfold that New Zealanders are going to reflect on the Green Party and its approach to these matters and see a party that has a fundamental world view that people need protecting from themselves. They do not. The overwhelming majority of people are more than capable of making their own sound decisions and acting appropriately. They are not going to morph into Mr Hyde simply because they are permitted to go and enjoy games in the early hours of the morning during the course of this World Cup.I would actually like to add a bit to what my colleague Christopher Bishop said earlier in this reading when he pointed out that the statistics are showing us that particularly amongst young drinkers the frequency of drinking—the nature of binge drinking and the harm from drinking in that demographic—is decreasing. That is very true. We should not argue with the facts. We are entitled to our own opinions; we are not entitled to our own facts. But here is another fact: in Wellington along Courtenay Place there used to be a triage centre because of the behaviour of certain people in the wee small hours and harm violence and injury that was being caused. That station no longer exists and I can tell the members of this House that it is not because of funding. The reason that centre is no longer in Courtenay Place is that it is no longer needed.Yes this country has had issues with drinking in the past and for a small minority there may still exist some issues. But the evidence amongst our youth and in fact across society shows us that we are improving. This bill and what it is going to permit which is people enjoying the Rugby World Cup in those normally unsociable hours—because it is on the other side of the world—is not suddenly going to create new problems. But what it is going to do is enable New Zealanders to rally around their team to enjoy it to wish it every success and to enjoy the occasion and the camaraderie of other New Zealanders cheering their team on shouting at the television screen hoping it will make a difference. I commend the bill to the House.The question was put that the amendments recommended by the Justice and Electoral Committee by majority be agreed to.