Alcohol law reform rally demands Government action
Several hundred people joined a rally in South Auckland yesterday calling for comprehensive changes to New Zealand’s alcohol laws.
Groups marched from Otara, Manurewa and Manukau to Manukau Square on Sunday to urge the Government to listen to the community on alcohol reform. The rally was organised by Alcohol Healthwatch and The Salvation Army.
Salvation Army Social Policy Director Major Campbell Roberts called on the Government to implement the Law Commission’s full range of recommendations to reduce the damage caused by alcohol misuse.
The Government has so far shied away from lowering the blood alcohol level for drivers, except for young and repeat drink drivers, and has rejected raising the tax on alcohol.
The Law Commission’s recommendations are ‘a sensible and sane agenda, which when implemented in its entirety, will drastically alter the negative impacts of alcohol in New Zealand,’ Major Roberts said.
‘We’re here today because we’re worried that the decisive and determined support we expected from politicians for these excellent Law Commission recommendations has seemed to have been dithering and duck shoving.’
Speakers included Labour leader Phil Goff, Professor Doug Sellman of the National Addictions Centre, Green Party MP David Clendon and National MP Paul Hutchinson.
Doug Sellman said the Government is framing the drinking culture as a youth problem while the reality is that the majority of the country’s 700,000 heavy drinkers are adults. Only 8 per cent of heavy drinkers are under the age of 20, he said.
The alcohol industry, including supermarkets and the advertising sector, generate the majority of their profits from heavy drinkers so they will ‘fight to the death’ to preserve the status quo, Doug Sellman said.
Phil Goff called on the Government to put the Law Commission’s recommendations into legislation. He said the Commission’s report provided a once in a lifetime opportunity to reduce the level of alcohol abuse in the country.
‘I say to the government, why not bring in a bill to parliament that includes all of the recommendations of the Law Commission report and put that to the public of New Zealand to make their voices heard on it and then make a decision that is evidence-based on what we need to do about alcohol abuse,’ Mr Goff said.
After the rally, the National-led Government said it would announce changes to alcohol legislation in the next few weeks.
- The Salvation Army is seeking:
- a return of the drinking age to 20
- advertising and marketing of alcoholic products to be severely restricted
- alcohol tax to rise by 25 per cent
- the blood alcohol level to be lowered
- an increase in Government-funded treatment places for alcohol addiction treatment.
> Read The Salvation Army's recent reports on NZ's drinking culture