Alcohol Bill Completes Committee Stage

Alcohol Bill Completes Committee Stage

Alcohol law reform legislation has completed its committee stage with the Government voting down all Opposition amendments.

Voting on a large number of amendments to the Alcohol Reform Bill began at 5.15pm after a single debate covering all remaining parts.

Earlier this year Parliament backed the status quo on the alcohol purchasing age and the Government’s amendments to some parts of the bill, before the debate was put on the back burner.

Opposition MPs put up a range of amendments covering a wide range of issues.

These included:

Minimum prices for alcohol;

Alcohol limits on ``alcopops’’;

Lowering the drinking driving limit; and

Mandatory warning labels on alcohol

Associate Justice Minister Chester Borrows outlined the Government’s reasoning for not backing the amendments.

All Government amendments passed and all Opposition ones failed to varying vote numbers with Labour MPs casting individual conscience votes and National MPs voting as a bloc.

Voting finished just after 5.30pm and the House rose until next Tuesday.

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