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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