O'Connor Damien: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction: Purchase Age) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction: Purchase Age) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:635;Page:6338] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 I start by acknowledging the work of the Law and Order Committee. I acknowledge Martin Gallagher for bringing the Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction: Purchase Age) Amendment Bill to the select committee Ron Mark as chair of the committee and the members of the committee for attempting to deal with a very very difficult issue. Those members have put their very best efforts into this bill. 
The issue of alcohol-related harm is a major problem for New Zealand. It is not a new problem; it is one we have confronted for many many years. It is calculated that the impact of this problem on our economy is $4 billion a year including $655 million for the public health sector and $240 million in crime and related costs. I could go on and on. These are harms for our country and for our economy but they are not harms caused by just people who are 18 and 19 years of age. Although I acknowledge the efforts of the member in introducing the bill into the House and those of his predecessor the Hon Matt Robson I say that the Government in trying to reduce the harms as it has a responsibility to do has to make sure as the previous speaker said that we end up with law that is workable logical and truly effective. 
The submissions on the bill truly reflected the public sentiment. We are told that 80 percent—or thereabouts—of the country would like to see the purchase age for alcohol increased. I say that 80 percent of the country want to see the harm from alcohol reduced. That would be perhaps a better reflection of public opinion. People see this bill as an opportunity to do that but there are some dangers in supporting a bill such as this one. In spite of the select committee’s very careful consideration the bill like the two others that have come before the House in recent times is a rather ad hoc approach to what is a very very complex problem. 
The last two bills that this Parliament passed in an attempt to reduce harm came before the House in 1999 and 2004. In 1999 we lowered the drinking age—a measure I opposed at that time—and allowed the sale of beer and wine in supermarkets which is something that many people may regret at this point. Then in 2004 we changed that legislation in order to allow controlled-purchase operations to run smoothly—a good amendment that allows us to identify people who are currently not abiding by the existing legislation. 
This Government is absolutely committed to reducing harm from alcohol; there are many initiatives and much work has been done—there is a huge commitment to doing that. One of our goals under the Health Strategy is to minimise the harm caused by alcohol and illicit and other drug use both to individuals and to the community. We have a national alcohol strategy that is aimed at minimising the alcohol-related harm caused to individuals and families. But we have a problem in this country and the problem is that too many people binge drink and too many people accept the culture of binge drinking. In fact the latest survey which was conducted fewer than 2 years ago by the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand (ALAC) identified that 450000 of us were binge drinking on our last drinking occasion. Some people might think that that figure is ridiculous but those are the cold hard facts. Those people were not 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds; they were grandparents parents uncles aunties—they were not just the children of those individuals. 
We have a moral responsibility as a Government and as a Parliament across all parties to reduce the harm from alcohol. The vast majority of New Zealanders enjoy drinking alcohol. But for too many people drinking alcohol becomes a problem and we have treatment for them. Other people—450000 on their last drinking occasion—go out with a determination to get drunk. Those are the problems we are dealing with here. In spite of the best attempts of the select committee the bill as reported back is based on one assumption and that is that the purchase age for alcohol will be raised to 20 years. The problem is that all the other clauses in the bill are based in my view on the faulty assumption that indeed the purchase age will be raised. 
If we keep the purchase age at 18 years of age we must do ongoing work. Today the Government announced that we will review some of the sale and supply issues around alcohol and minors—those under the age of 18 years. It is essential that we do that. If we thought that making something illegal might stop the utilisation of it then we would wonder why young people use marijuana. That drug is illegal regardless of age yet we still have as we know wide utilisation of marijuana across this country with effects we are yet to fully determine in my view. The idea of shifting the purchase age from 18 to 20 and hoping we will see a change in culture in this country is in my view rather ambitious hopeful and destined to fail. We have to do everything we can to change the culture here. 
If people think the non-passage of this bill will leave us in a vacuum it is important to remind those people of work that is under way. I would like to flag that ALAC has a social marketing campaign that says to each and every New Zealander that the binge drinking culture we have in this country is the responsibility of each and every one of us—as grandparents as parents as friends and as peers. The programme ALAC is working through is raising awareness of that fact. The programme is no silver bullet and it will not turn round overnight opinion on and the culture of drinking but we are committed to the programme and we will continue it. 
We have controlled-purchase operations and we will enhance them. People who sell alcohol to people under 18 or to people who are intoxicated are currently conducting an illegal activity and will be prosecuted—and they should be prosecuted. It is no good shifting the purchase age up to 20 if we will still get the same level of non-compliance across the board. 
I acknowledge that the bill as originally placed before the House had reference to the advertising of alcohol. I acknowledge the consideration by the select committee of splitting off that part of the bill and wait until we have completed a review of alcohol advertising due in the middle of next year. Hopefully that review will truly identify whether alcohol advertising influences the way young people and older people drink in this country and whether changes are needed. We have within the industry the Hospitality Association with its host responsibility initiatives. The members of that association know full well that if they do not address the issue of alcohol harm then ultimately this Parliament will pass draconian law that will impact severely on their commercial operations. We in this House should lay down the challenge to the industry that unless it fully cooperates and does everything possible within its powers to reduce binge drinking to reduce unacceptable levels of intoxication and to improve the culture of drinking in this country then ultimately Parliament will deliver a change in law to it. 
I think this bill as reported back cannot be truly effected because there are too many exceptions. There are too many contradictions in the clauses put back before the House. In spite of the best attempts of this House through amendments that members may put up in my view we need a full considered review of the Sale of Liquor Act that addresses the issue of supply and sale to minors. We must warn people that if they continue to flout the laws currently in place then they will be prosecuted. Binge drinking and alcohol harm in this country are an issue and a concern for each and every New Zealander. We have a responsibility as a Parliament to put into place sensible laws that the vast majority of New Zealanders will comply with and abide by. We have to change the binge drinking culture in this country that encourages and condones the behaviour of too many young people in this country.