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House: Liquor Debate Expected At Around 5pm
Today's session in the house is expected to see the controversial liquor laws amendment bill back before the house at around 5pm.
Today's session will begin at 2pm with Questions of the Day followed by the General Debate. Today is not a member's Wednesday and the house will then move into the committee stages of the SIS Amendment Bill No.2.
Following that - expected to be around 5pm - the house will recommence its adjourned debate on the committee stages of the liquor laws legislation.
In theory the main decisions on liquor have already been made with the bill as it now stands lowering the drinking age to 18, authorising the use of proof-of-age ID cards, allowing beer in supermarkets and Sunday sales but not spirits in supermarkets and no liquor in dairies.
The debate on the liquor bill can be expected to again see some fiery speeches.
Amendments are allowed to be introduced in the debate but only on the fringe of the bill. That is, in theory anyway, amendments will not be allowed if they alter the substantive decisions made during the last session three weeks ago.
The house is scheduled to sit till 10pm tonight
and at present there is no indication of any plans to go
into urgency this
week.
Alastair Thompson
Scoop Publisher
Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.
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