Kieran McAnulty: Labour MP on his bill allowing alcohol sales on public holidays being voted through to Select Committee

A Labour MP is pushing for change on alcohol sales on certain holidays.

Kieran McAnulty's new bill will let licensed businesses already open on ANZAC Day morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas sell alcohol.

It's been voted through to Select Committee today.

McAnulty says he's open to amendments to get the Bill through.

He says if it turns out the majority of MPs don't want Christmas Day included - he'll take it out.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ray and Brush a bill to make it easier to
buy booze on public holidays. Who doesn't like the sound
of this? Already has passed its first reading in Parliament.
If the bill becomes law, licensed premises will be able
to sell alcohol on Christmas Day, Easter Weekend and Anzac
Day without restriction, so long as the business is legally
allowed to open on these days. Anyway, the bill went

(00:20):
to a conscience vote. While it passed sixty seven fifty four,
some of Karen McNulty's labor colleagues voted against it. The
laboring Peace with Us now Karen good evening, Hey here,
who's against a bear on Anzac Day?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Mayla. I think we've got to recognize that for a
lot of people, Easter and Christmas is really important and
any suggestion of a change on that is a difficult prospect.
And actually this has been debated in Parliament many, many
times and we've never got it to Select committee. But
I thought about this bill quite a lot and was

(01:00):
really specific about what I'm proposing Only those businesses that
are already open, So the pubs and the restaurants that
already open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but have
to go through this brigmarole of making sure someone's had
a meal before they let them buy a pint. Only
those are the ones that will be affected. And all
I'm saying is they should just if they're already legally

(01:20):
able to open, they should operate like they do every
other day to year.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Does that get the unions on site because they're worry
is you know you have people opening that otherwise wouldn't open,
and then the staff are forced to work.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, the thing is that we have guaranteed days off
for most workers, and it's only a couple of year,
and any prospect of changing that is a big deal.
In a much larger conversation, what I'm talking about the
fact is that only businesses that are already open, and
therefore workers that are already working, and in fact, I
tell you, well I've spoken to hospitality workers will be

(01:53):
pleased to be operating under the rules that they've been
trained under for the rest of the year, rather than
monitoring what someone's eaten in the last hour window before
they know whether they can serve them a pine to
or not.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Are you do you reckon that you'll get the same
amount of support on the second reading.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I hope so. I was really clear with other MP's
last night when we debated the bill. I just want
to be pragmatic. I'm conscious that we've never had any
movement in this area, and if it turns out that
the majority of MP's are uncomfortable with Christmas Day being included,
I'll take it out. I don't care. I just want
to see some movement in this area. The end that day.

(02:29):
Morning one is particularly important to me. I don't think
RSA should have to go through the process of getting
a special license just to give veterans a drink after
a dawn service or a civic service in mid morning.
I think that's silly. They should be able to operate
like they do in any other day of the year.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
You need a job at David Seymour's regulation bashing Ministry.
That sounds like it's been right up as Ellie Karen.
They appreciate your time. Keren mcinaally from Parliament will let
you get back into the House for

Speaker 2 (02:58):
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