Wall Louisa; Mallard Trevor; Carter DavidSALE AND SUPPLY OF ALCOHOL (RENEWAL OF LICENCES) AMENDMENT BILL (NO 2)First ReadingLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): I move That the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Renewal of Licences) Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill.I'd like to begin my contribution tonight by reading from my explanatory note and it says There is no rational base on which existing off-licence renewals should not be assessed against a local alcohol policy that has been through a rigorous process that takes specific account of the harm caused directly or indirectly to the community by alcohol. To not assess existing off-licence renewals against local alcohol policies concerning density and location is to render the basis of a local alcohol policy nugatory and to ignore that existing outlets may have contributed to the identification of areas in a local alcohol policy where there is excessive harm caused by alcohol consumption to the community."Where does this piece of legislation stem from the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act? It actually stems from the Alcohol Reform Bill which this Parliament debated in 2010 2011 and 2012. I want to read from the select committee report—so this was reported from the Justice and Electoral Committee—"[The] bill seeks to implement the Government's response to the Law Commission's 2010 report Alcohol in Our Lives: Curbing the Harm. Alcohol has been recognised as the cause of significant social and health-related harm and is implicated in 30 percent of all police-recorded offences 34 percent of recorded family violence and 50 percent of all homicides." The bill had five policy objectives. They were "to reduce excessive drinking by adults and young people; to reduce the harm caused by alcohol use including crime disorder public nuisance and negative public health outcomes; to support the safe and responsible sale supply and consumption of alcohol; to improve community input into local alcohol licensing decisions; [and] to improve the operation of the alcohol licensing system."This bill passed its third reading on 11 December 2012 and I want to quote then Minister of Justice Judith Collins. She said "Accessing alcohol is easier when there are more licences and communities have been telling us that they are concerned about the proliferation of stores selling alcohol in their areas. At present it is very difficult to successfully object to a licence application. Licence criteria are limited and licences are relatively easy to obtain. This can be frustrating and disheartening for communities concerned about alcohol-related harm in their areas. Under [this] bill licences will be harder to get and easier to lose."The reason I've emphasised that is because in section 75 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act there is an opportunity for the establishment of local alcohol policies. These local alcohol policies were used to consolidate community input into local alcohol licensing decision-making. Currently section 133 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act—the title is "Renewal of licences where relevant local alcohol policy exists"—states and I quote: "In considering whether to renew a licence the licensing authority or licensing committee concerned must not take into account any inconsistency between a relevant local alcohol policy and—(a) the renewal of a licence".In Auckland Council's provisional local alcohol policy which had 2688 submissions clause 4.2 "Applications for renewal of off-licences states and I quote: "1. Pursuant to section 133 of the Act in considering whether to renew a licence the DLC"—district licensing committee—"and ARLA"—Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority—"must not take into account any inconsistency between the Policy and renewing the licence"—that is the policy cannot be grounds for refusing to renew the licence.Therein lies the heart of my bill. I believe that there should not be a difference between a new licence and somebody who is renewing their licence. A licence is a licence is a licence. Since the introduction of this piece of legislation of the 67 territorial authorities 29 have adopted local alcohol policies and they are Ashburton District Council which has had 207 submissions; Auckland Council as I've just said 2688; Central Hawke's Bay District Council; Christchurch City Council although it's provisional; Dunedin City Council provisional; Far North District Council provisional; Gisborne District Council which has an adopted local alcohol policy; Hauraki District Council which has an adopted alcohol policy; Hurunui District Council; Hutt City Council Lower Hutt; Invercargill City Council; Gore District Council; Southland District Council; New Plymouth District Council; Stratford District Council; Ōtorohanga District Council; Porirua City Council; Ruapehu District Council; Selwyn District Council; Tasman District Council; Tauranga City Council; Western Bay of Plenty District Council; Thames-Coromandel District Council; Timaru District Council; Mackenzie District Council; Waimate District Council; Waikato District Council; Waimakariri District Council; Waipā District Council; Waitomo District Council; and Whakatāne District Council Kawerau District Council and Ōpōtiki District Council—Eastern Bay of Plenty. I read out these local alcohol policies because in Hutt City's case they had 262 submissions in Gisborne's case they had 142 submissions and in Selwyn's case they had 67 submissions so the community has grasped the opportunity with their local councils to create local alcohol policies. The application for a renewal of a licence: if you have an existing licence within 20 days of the expiry of that licence you have to make an application for that to be renewed. There is an opportunity for objections to that licence. The police and the medical officers of health have been given a specific opportunity to comment on whether or not those applications for renewal should be approved.One of the questions that one of my colleagues posed to me was: is this going to get rid of bad businesses? Now I want to state from the outset that it is not my intention for the consideration of local alcohol policies to rid us of good businesses. I state that because it's also one of the issues that I've had to deal with and this is particularly in reference to the support of the New Zealand First Party. They were very clear that businesses and our business community were incredibly important and so they wanted some confirmation from me that this in no way would affect on-licensed premises that this was in response to essentially communities where we have a proliferation of outlets and there is no way for us to reduce that number. So at the end of my contribution I will be asking for a point of order so that I can table a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) that will specifically address their issue.What I also wanted to highlight was that under section 267 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act the police do have the option of assessing at any time compliance of outlets or organisations who have a licence whether or not they are complying with the regulations of their particular licence. But I have found no evidence because under section 281 of that particular legislation the police have an opportunity to not only challenge a licence—so that results in some sort of suspension—they can also look at applying for a cancellation of a licence. And—after asking the library for some evidence—there have been no suspensions of any licence under section 281. There have been 15 cases where people have received penalties from 24 hours to 42 days where managers who have certificates have had those certificates cancelled or on-licences have been refused because of issues that they've had with the police. But there have been no instances where someone with an off-licence has had that licence cancelled by the police. That's the only way that you can control businesses who aren't complying with the stipulations of their particular licence. So I obviously am imploring the House to support this bill at least to select committee. Thank you Mr Speaker.I seek leave to table an SOP drafted by the Clerk's office in my name which confirms this bill applies to the renewal of alcohol off-licences only.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that Supplementary Order Paper being tabled and I presume being referred with the bill if the bill receives a first reading? Is there any objection to that? There appears to be none.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.SPEAKER: Before I call the member Chris Bishop I will indicate that because this is a conscience issue and members on both sides of the issue have indicated positions to me the normal back and forth party positions will not apply."