Lift Drinking Age Now Says NZ First

New Zealand First youth affairs spokesperson Craig McNair says the Government can no longer ignore the effects the lowered drinking age is having on teen drinking and it should raise it urgently.

A new Massey University study has found that 18-year-olds could buy alcohol without being asked for identification at more than half the 250 Auckland bottle shops, supermarkets and grocery stores they visited.

“More liquor outlets failed to request identification than last year, which indicates the Liquor Licensing Authority has failed to support enforcement of drinking laws and the Government’s promise to get tough on ID requirements was simply hot air,” said Mr McNair.

“Lowering the drinking age to 18 has allowed for younger and younger New Zealanders to gain easier access to alcohol, and has contributed to the worsening problem of teen boozing.

“The Government needs to accept that the decision to lower the drinking age was a terrible mistake, and should support New Zealand First’s members bill to raise the legal age back to 20 years," Mr McNair concluded.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>