Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Well we don't agree to this bill and we'll be opposing it. So this is the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Community Participation) Amendment Bill. It was introduced by Kiri Allan when she was Minister of Justice.The starting point is a fair concern around the slow and cumbersome process of the appeals to local alcohol plans which allow for in legislation the community to have a say on what goes on in their community when it comes to liquor licences. These are for all the various off-licences and for bars and so forth in our community. So yep we agree with that. It's been a very slow process. The Government had a couple of options. They could try and improve the process so that it went more swiftly and that appeals were dealt with in a timely fashion or they could go for the much tougher option which is what they did which is to do away with the appeals. Now the slight problem with the logic of that is that it kind of assumes that councils always make the correct decisions. I just think anybody who lives in New Zealand and is aware of how local government operates would struggle with that idea that the council always gets it right and that the decisions that they make in coming up with anything are always 100 percent right and should never be questioned or appealed. I don't like to be unkind to our friends in the local government sector but I think experience would indicate that sometimes they don't get it right and sometimes when it comes to reflecting the views of the community they don't actually reflect the views of the community but they might reflect the views of themselves and their supporters and their particular concerns and particular interest groups sometimes have greater weight than others. So that is a very flawed sort of basis upon which to legislate in my view: that council always gets it right therefore it shouldn't be appealed and it should be just accepted.Then as well as dealing with that the Government has made a number of very substantial changes to how the process works in terms of the granting of licences not just granting of new ones. So we're talking about the hospitality sector more generally. And notwithstanding Grant Robertson who will like I say be very very happy to be pictured drinking a beer down at the pub for FIFA or for the Rugby World Cup—and he always talks about how important the hospitality sector is and tourism and all that sort of stuff—this legislation could make life extremely difficult for the mum and dad small-business owners up and down the country trying to just do their business because it introduces an extreme arbitrary process when it comes to the renewal of licences and we just think it goes too far.Because what it says is if a local alcohol plan which is gone through by the all-seeing and allpowerful and all-wise council determines that you should not have a liquor licence within a kilometre of a school for example which they might—I could just see it happening—then if you have been in business for 50 years are 800 metres from a school and you have a perfect record you're loved by the community you've got a great bar or whatever or you're an off-licence and you've done well then lo and behold if this local alcohol plan is passed saying it can't be within a kilometre of the school what can happen when you come up for your renewal of your licence is that the district licensing authority may decline your renewal simply on the basis of that change in the plan. And so the business that you built up for 50 years gone just like that. Now that I think is an overreach and very unfair.It may well be that using that example there's another shop a couple of hundred metres down the road that happens to be just outside the boundary with a terrible record that goes on carries on fine but you with the great record who happen to be slightly in the wrong place can be gone.Then it flings open the doors wide when it comes to objections. It used to be reasonably tightly constrained to people who actually had a clear interest in the neighbourhood and had a reasonable proposition to include anybody or anything from any group from anywhere in the country. And so lo and behold you could have a big long line-up of a well-organised anti-alcohol groups everywhere coming through and making life very difficult. Now look there is a place for locals to object and I think that's absolutely right and appropriate but to have no restrictions whatsoever on who can be a part of the process I think again will be very difficult to manage in a practical sense. And then they can say whatever they like and make all sorts of allegations about you and you're not allowed to cross-examine them in any way shape or form. So I don't think that is a reasonable thing either.Then of course they can incorporate tikanga Māori into the proceedings. I worry about that simply from the point of view in terms of the basic sort of rule of law that it should be predictable. People should know exactly what the rules are and how it should be done. And if we're introducing concepts that aren't pinned down can vary enormously then I think that is a problem when it comes to predictability. It might be a small matter here but in terms of the broader law within this country that is a big issue and one that I think needs a bit more thought and care.And then finally when it comes to competitors objecting I think it's a ridiculously naive approach taken which is to say trade competitors can object but they can't object when it comes to trade competition. So the person who objects to a store opening up next door can say Look I'm not concerned about the fact that they're trading but I just don't feel like it's good for the community to have two stores in this area." which to me seems to be a ridiculous proposition.So Madam Chair—"Madam Speaker" would be even better! Madam Speaker with that I finish my speech and we oppose this legislation. We also oppose the fact that it's been rammed through in the very very last days of this Government under urgency. When the sun is sinking on this Government they are ramming through all sorts of things at the last minute and that's a pity.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the lunch break. We will resume after question time.Sitting suspended from 1.01 p.m. to 2 p.m."