Francesca Rudkin: Do we really need more liquor stores in Auckland?

We spend a lot of time talking about alcohol harm, and yet we tend to do very little about it. Therefore, it is good to see Auckland Council has stuck to its guns and persisted in what they believe is a game changer for some communities.   

After an 8-year court battle with supermarkets, Auckland Council looks set to place a ban on selling booze after 9pm in supermarkets and bottle stores in Auckland by December. Also on the cards is a two-year freeze on new liquor stores in the central city and 23 other areas with high alcohol-related harm and crime. 

At the end of the day, how you drink is up to the individual. It is your health and your responsibility. But as a society, we all pay the price. Alcohol impacts our health and our mental wellbeing. It’s a factor in family violence, and crime, and creates unsafe communities and roads.  It adds to the workload of police, and emergency departments. We know the benefits to reducing alcohol harm.   

So good on the Auckland Council for taking some responsibility. The aim of this Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) is to minimize alcohol-related harm in communities while balancing fair and reasonable requirements for businesses. So, you can still buy your alcohol, you might have to be a bit better organised, but if it is making it less available in communities that are seeing the brunt of the harm, then I say let’s give it a go. 

Do we really need more than 100 liquor stores in South Auckland?  There are about 18 in the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board area, 18 in Manurewa, 29 in Ōtara-Papatoetoe, and 40 in Maungakiekie-Tāmaki. Sounds like enough to me. Gosh don’t you wish we’d been more proactive around vape stores? ... 

Those working in this space are calling it a game-changer. Dr Grant Hewison, a lawyer who works on alcohol issues with two community groups in South Auckland, said the policy would lead to significant improvements in alcohol-related harm. 

He believes that shifting the closing time regarding the sale of alcohol at supermarkets and liquor stores from 11 pm to 9pm will prevent pre-loading with cheaper alcohol outside licensed premises.   

Manurewa- Papakura ward councilor Angela Dalton said on Breakfast TV this morning “easy access to alcohol is not helping our people who are really in distress from addiction and that goes across any age, any culture, it’s nondiscriminatory but it's certainly impacting our kids.   

She went on to say the area has a young population, and children are walking past liquor outlets daily. She believes it’s subliminal messaging and they might be going home to places that are fueled by alcohol. She believes if we can calm that, this is going to be better off for everyone.   

 

The new rules mean: 

Supermarkets and bottle stores cannot sell alcohol after 9pm (the cut-off is 11pm now). 

Bars, restaurants and other on-licences cannot sell alcohol later than 4am in the central city and 3am elsewhere. 

Applications for new bottle stores in the central city and 23 other areas will be rejected for two years unless they meet a very high threshold. 

Sports clubs and RSAs can sell alcohol no later than 1am. 

No change for liquor licences for festivals and events. They will continue to be assessed by the district licencing committee. 

I can work around this – it doesn’t need to be an issue for me – but if it helps other people and other communities, I am happy to deal with a small inconvenience of fewer sales hours.  You?   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talk st B. Right.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We spend a lot of time talking about alcohol harm,
don't we, and yet we tend to do very little
about it. Therefore, it is good to see Auckland Council
has stuck to their guns and persisted in what they
believe is a game changer for some communities. After an
eight year court battle eight years with supermarkets, Auckland Council

(00:35):
looks set to place a ban on selling booze after
nine pm in supermarkets and bottle stores in Auckland by December.
Also on the cards is a two year freeze on
the new liquor stores in a central city and twenty
three are the areas with high alcohol related harm and crime.
At the end of the day, how you drink is

(00:58):
up to you, your health, your body, your money, your responsibility.
But as a society you'll pay the price. Alcohol impacts
our health and our health services and our mental well being.
It's a factor in family violence and crime, and it
creates unsafe communities and unsafe roads. It adds to the
workload of police and emergency departments. We all know the

(01:22):
benefits to reducing alcohol harm so good on the Auckland
Council for taking some responsibility. They are the ones that
are often having to deal with the consequences. The aim
of this local alcohol policy is to minimize alcohol related
harm in communities while balancing fair and reasonable requirements for businesses.

(01:43):
So you can still buy your alcohol. You might have
to be a little bit better organized. But if it's
making it less available in communities who are seeing the
brunt of the harm, then I say let's give it
a go. Do we really need more than one hundred
liquor stores in South Auckland they are about eighteen and
the Mangarey oh To who Who local board area about

(02:04):
eighteen and Onne your twenty nine and Old Tara Papatoytoy
and forty in the Mangakiki Tamaki area. So sounds like
enough to me. And gosh, don't you wish that we'd
been more proactive about how many stores you could have
when we introduced to vapes would have solved a problem there,
But that's another story. Those working in this space are

(02:27):
calling it a game changer. Doctor Grant Hewitson, a lawyer
who works on alcohol issues with two community groups in
South Auckland said the policy would lead to significant improvements
in alcohol related harm, and he believes that shifting the
closing time regarding the sale of alcohol at supermarkets and
liquor stores from eleven pm to nine pm will prevent
pre loading with cheaper alcohol outside licensed premises. Many Awa

(02:52):
papacoorda ward counselor, mentioned on Breakfast TV this morning that
the easy access to alcohol is not helping our people
who are really in distress from addiction, and that goes
across any age, any culture. It's non discriminatory, but it
certainly is impacting our kids. And the counselor was saying,
it's a very young population they have in their area.

(03:16):
Kids are walking past liquor outlets daily. She believes it's
subliminal messaging and they might be going home to places
that are fueled by alcohol. So if we can calm that,
then this is going to be better for everybody. So
the new rules, supermarkets and bottle stores cannot sell alcohol
after nine pm. The cushoff currently is eleven pm. Bars,

(03:38):
restaurants and other on licenses cannot sell alcohol later than
four am, and the central city in three am. Elsewhere,
I really don't have a problem with that either, because
really is anything good happening after four am or after
three am? Applications for new bottle stores and the Central
City and twenty three other areas will be rejected for
two years unless they meet a very high threshold. Brilliant

(04:02):
got plenty of access to alcohol. We do not need
more sports US and RSAs can sell alcohol no later
than one am, and there's no change for liquor licenses
for festivals and events. They will continue to be assessed
by the district Licensing Committee. I don't know about you.
I can work around this. It doesn't need to be
an issue for me, but if it helps other people

(04:23):
and other communities, I'm happy to deal with a small
inconvenience of fewer sales hours.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
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