We do not have to look far to consider why this Alcohol Reform Bill is necessary.

Just four days ago, while the eyes of the world were on us, spectators and members of the public acting under the haze of alcohol induced behavior, threatened to ruin the wonder of the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony for us all.

Of course there are issues with transport, with forward planning, and with safety and security that are rightly matters that local and central government must attend to.

But we cannot avoid the conclusion that drunk and unruly passengers were hitting the emergency lever on the trains and causing chaos; that wild party-goers were creating havoc at the Viaduct; and that – as my co-leader Pita Sharples has pointed out, at least six of the paddlers on the Te Tai Tokerau waka were taken to hospital after being assaulted by drunk members of the public.

This is a shame and a disgrace, and I have no tolerance for alcohol-induced behaviour which places public safety at risk.

This may sound hard-line – but I make no apologies for our stance.

We are faced with a situation in which Maori have four times the rate of alcohol related mortality as non-Maori; and more than double the rate of years of life lost due to alcohol.

We also have the special responsibility of knowing that half of our Maori population is aged under 24 years – the age group which is vulnerable to a far higher level of alcohol related harm than any other.

I am proud that in Te Wai Pounamu in 1879 all of the South Island tribes joined together to petition parliament for the total prohibition of alcohol in the Southern Provinces.

And I am deeply sorrowful that here we are some 132 years later, still tinkling around the edges of alcohol reform.

But it’s a start, and we acknowledge there has been some progress made.

The Maori Party appreciates the spirit of co-operation that has characterized the negotiations our parties have had over the last year with Minister Power, and we mihi to him for his willingness to consider our proposals to move towards a more comprehensive and all-inclusive approach.

We are driven by the wisdom of Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa – the Maori Medical Practitioners association – which have detailed the impact of alcohol upon our lives.

The excessive availability and consumption of alcohol has damaged the lives of whanau in a vast multitude of ways including through motor vehicle accidents, psychiatric crisis, cardiac and neurological emergency, assault, financial strain and childhood suffering.

In line with this advice, we do not agree that a treatment focus on brief interventions will address the longstanding effects of alcohol abuse in our communities.

Alcohol addiction is often a chronic and relapsing condition. It does not occur in isolation – mental health, physical health and social problems often co-exist with addiction.

And so we are mindful also of the advice from the National Committee for Addiction Treatment, that the capacity of addiction services needs to at least double to enable those most severely affected by addiction to gain timely access to treatment.

The Maori Party recommends that there should be a substantial investment in multiple approaches bearing in mind that no single approach will work for everyone.

We have been concerned that some of the rhetoric around the association to the Drivers of Crime alcohol work stream restricts treatment options to a context of offending. We believe a far wider approach is desirable which takes a ‘whole of life’ perspective.

Approximately one third of people with alcohol related harm, change ‘organically’ – as a natural development without the need for clinical intervention. These are people who make the lifestyle change because they have support around them to address their behaviour. This is Whanau Ora.

The Maori Party believe we must really focus on the long-term outlook – the inter-generational shift that will ensure we reduce alcohol related harm right across the whanau.

And I think we must be mindful of a recent article in the New Zealand Medical Journal which reported that a large proportion of New Zealanders report the experience of physical, social, economic and psychological harms because of the drinking of others.

This broader context of Whanau Ora must be considered in the discussion of alcohol reform. We need to invest in wellbeing – to study the motivators and triggers that are associated with alcohol use within the whanau. It is about denormalising drinking; distancing our communities from the grasp of the alcohol industry.

We need to put the blame for the problem where it belongs, get out of the pockets of the booze barons and stop blaming the consumers. Alcohol is a drug and those who produce, market, advertise and sell it should be the ones who are criminalised, not those socialised into thinking it is normal.

While we wholeheartedly see the need for significant investment in the sector targeted at alcohol treatment services we are strongly in support of any initiatives that lessen accessibility to alcohol, whether by limiting trading hours, limiting the number of alcohol outlets, or limiting the types of alcohol products available.

We also maintain that alcohol taxation; minimum pricing and advertising restrictions are the most powerful tools in addressing the harms of alcohol use.

We support the intention to keep these priority areas open, such as monitoring overseas developments on minimum pricing; and working with the industry to investigate minimum pricing.

We also support the proposal for a cross agency advertising and sponsorship review, as recommended by the Law Commission. We are particularly supportive of the Law Commission’s advice that alcohol advertising and sponsorship could be addressed by limiting product information to objective plain pack format, much as my colleague Tariana Turia is advancing in the area of tobacco prevention.

We are disappointed that local alcohol plans remain voluntary.

The liberalization of alcohol sales – opening up supermarket sales, extending opening hours, reducing the minimum purchase age to 18, increased numbers and increased density of outlets have all compounded the problem of alcohol addiction in our communities, and we cannot help but be concerned that local flexibility may in fact open up more opportunities for alcohol related harm.

And I want to share with the House the comparison made by Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu to the regime of environmental management.

It was their contention that the rights protected under Article Two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi include the capacity to protect and preserve the wellbeing of our greatest taonga – our people. Accordingly their view is that iwi have a right to be decision-makers on the supply and regulation of alcohol within their respective ancestral lands. The proposal to enable iwi input into local decision-making will be proposed as a key amendment in the section on local alcohol policy.

Finally we reiterate our concern at representing alcohol harm as essentially along the criminal justice trajectory of offending and victimization. Alcohol harm – like tobacco related harm – is a complex and comprehensive issue that requires innovative leadership across many levels.

The Maori Party will be supporting the second reading of the Bill, and we propose to also introduce amendments during the Committee of the Whole House to reflect the areas where we have yet to achieve consensus.

In the committee stage I will therefore be introducing various amendments including to

• omit clause 14 from the bill, thus ensuring that Police, Fire Service and Defence Force bars are not exempt from its provisions.
• provide for the appointment of members by local iwi or hapū onto licensing committees within territorial authorities;
• identifying proximity to schools as a determining factor in licensing decisions;
• and restricting storage of alcohol to a concealed section of a grocery store or dairy.

ENDS

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