Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Display of Low-alcohol Beverages and Other Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill

Speaking very briefly to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Display of Low-alcohol Beverages and Other Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill and to the contribution of the previous member Peeni Henare in supporting the bill, I want to say that the comments are well made and noted around the harms of alcohol for some people in our society.

This sale and supply of alcohol legislation is new. It is a significant step forward in the legislation around addressing the harms of alcohol. It has had only a couple of years of bedding in—as a significant piece of legislation, it will need time to bed in—and, therefore, we now have the situation where we have an amendment bill come to the House because it is now obvious and apparent that low-alcohol beers, mead, and other non-alcohol beers should be able to be displayed for sale in the single area of supermarkets. The other provision in the bill worth noting is that the bill clarifies that any company, as defined within the meaning in the Companies Act, can also hold a liquor licence.

I would just note, in my brief contribution, that I do go to a lot of supermarkets and I would like to think that the spirit of this legislation is being carried out by supermarkets. I also see, occasionally, that supermarkets lose their liquor licence for a period of time for non-compliance, and I think that is a very good measure, as well. So I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Display of Low-alcohol Beverages and Other Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill. What I, essentially, want to highlight is that in 2012, when the sale and supply of alcohol legislation went through, Labour had a minority report, noting that there were four areas that we thought had not been addressed in that primary legislation. They were a lack of minimum pricing, availability of alcohol, advertising and sponsorship—and the fourth one is actually why we are here today, because it was about lowering alcohol limits for driving.

What I want to note is that post the introduction of that primary piece of legislation the Government did, in fact, enact a piece of legislation: the Land Transport Amendment Act, which came into effect in December 2014. What that piece of legislation did was to lower the blood-alcohol limit from 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood to 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. A consequence of that legislative change was that it inspired a change in drinking behaviour. So we are here because we did not put it in the primary piece of legislation, the Government then changed that particular lowering of the blood-alcohol limit, and now, because of that phenomenon, people have actually changed their drinking behaviour, and, because of demand, you have had alcohol manufacturers actually respond to that demand. What they have done is create alcohol beverages that are low-alcohol and, actually, zero-alcohol beers.

This actually speaks to, I think, a changed culture. When I look at, for example, the increase in light beer consumption in New Zealand, in the space of 2 years it has gone from 1 percent to 5 percent. In Australia it is now 24 percent. It is linked to legislative reform, it is linked to health and well-being, and it is linked to how we are drinking differently. So the inspiration for this piece of legislation comes from that. But I think, also, from Labour’s perspective, we would have thought that if we are going to reform the primary piece of legislation—that is, the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act—there could have been other things that we could have looked at, given that reform is going to take place. So I stand here, as a member of the Justice and Electoral Committee, obviously in support of the legislation, and we look forward to the further debates at the select committee about what other changes or what other amendments are relevant. Kia ora.

I think this bill has been reasonably well covered for a first reading. I only want to add that, from my perspective, it is eminently sensible. I look forward to its passage through the select committee, and I hope that we will be able to bring this back reasonably quickly, I would imagine, because it is eminently sensible. Thank you.

Bill read a first time.

Bill referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee.