ALAC’s Policy Positions
However Government responds to the recommendations made in the Law Commission Report Alcohol in Our Lives – Curbing the Harm, it is likely that there will be some legislative change. ALAC made a substantial written submission to the review, and here we summarise the positions ALAC has taken in regard to some potential legislation changes.
To see a copy of ALAC’s full submission to the Law Commission on the Alcohol in Our Lives discussion document go to our website www.alac.org.nz.
BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT (BAC)
• Lower the legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit for driving in New Zealand from 80mg/100ml for adult drivers down to 50mg/100ml, and the under 20 year old BAC to zero for all under 20 year olds, regardless of licence status.
• Introduce infringement notices for offences between the old BAC levels and the proposed new ones.
• Introduce mandatory alcohol interlocks for drink-driving offenders, as these offenders clearly need treatment and support to overcome their drinking issues.
• Introduce a legal BAC for those in charge of pleasure craft such as yachts.
• Introduce a nationwide set of trading hours, restricting offlicence hours from 8am to 10pm, and on-licences until 2am but also allowing for community say and local variation (extensions or shortening) of the nationwide on-licence trading hours via a well-consulted local alcohol policy and if a licensee can satisfy the LLA that it has a plan to manage the risk of harm.
• Make local alcohol policies mandatory.
• Give the LLA and DLA wider powers to refuse licences and the ability to impose conditions on licences.
• Restructure licensing fees.
• Remove all existing exemptions (police, armed forces, fire fighters, Parliament) from obtaining a licence to sell alcohol.
• Introduce new legal provisions for the type of premises able to apply for off-licences.
• Retain restrictions on the types of premises able to apply for off-licences.
PRICE AND PROMOTION OF ALCOHOL
Price
• Increase the retail price of alcohol to reduce the incidence of heavy sessional drinking.
• Review the excise structure to ensure the tax burden is spread so that the more alcohol purchased, the more tax payable.
• Remove the excise tax on low-alcohol products.
• To enable further work, the lack of access to sales data (price and volume) for the purposes of policy analysis needs to be addressed.
• There may be a case to increase excise tax, but any decision about this should follow policy work to compare it with the minimum price option.
Promotions
• Off-licence alcohol marketing and retailing practices should be governed by a similar law that is in place for on-licences.
• Immediate measures should be taken to reduce the exposure to alcohol promotion of those under the minimum purchase age such as a 9.30pm watershed for broadcast advertising material, restrictions on advertising on public transport (including bus shelters) and cinemas, restrictions on price
promotions and limiting areas of supermarkets where alcohol is displayed.
• Principles and codes for the promotion of alcohol should be enshrined in law, rather than being voluntary and a breach of these should be considered a breach of licensing conditions.
• A whole-of-Government process, similar to ‘Smokefree’, should be initiated to deal with the issue of alcohol promotion.
DRINKING AGE
• Raise the minimum purchase age to 20 years.
• Make it an offence for all persons to supply alcohol to a young person under 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian of the young person.
• Make it a legal requirement for any person supplying alcohol to a young person under 18 to supervise the consumption of the alcohol.
• Make age verification for the sale of alcohol mandatory. A nationally recognised and tamper proof system of age identification would greatly assist this measure.
• ALAC does not support the introduction of a minimum legal drinking age.
• ALAC does not support a split purchase age.
DRUNKENESS IN A PUBLIC PLACE
• Do not create an offence of drinking in a public place.
• Do not reintroduce the offence of being drunk in a public place.
PACKAGING
• No change to the types of products available at off-licences.
• Provide a regulatory power to prohibit the sale of undesirable liquor products based on expert recommendations to the Minister.
• Introduce measures to limit the alcohol content of ready-to-drinks and the size of single serve containers.
• There should be mandatory labelling providing advice recommending that pregnant women should not consume any alcohol.
TREATMENT
• There needs to be effective, accessible treatment across the spectrum of care (primary health, to specialist intensive alcohol and drug services). There are clear gaps in the delivery of brief interventions in primary health settings and integrating alcohol treatments into general practice.
Therefore:
• ALAC is keen to play a more active role in monitoring and providing advice on alcohol and other drug service provision and funding
• ALAC supports the development of a comprehensive plan for alcohol treatment, to be led by the Mental Health Commission and supported by ALAC, that will be based on a number of high priority and best practice principles including:
• Brief early interventions and alcohol treatments should be provided in primary health settings
• Family inclusive practice and well validated age and culturally appropriate services need to be increased
• Alcohol and other drug assessment and treatment should be taken into account during sentencing in cases where alcohol and other drugs may have contributed to the offending.
June 29 2010 12:05 pm | Policy and Legislation
Euan on 01 Aug 2010 at 2:35 pm #
You are doing a very good job educating about the dangers of alcohol drinking and driving. Keep on pushing for the driving limit to be reduced to 50mg/100ml. (or Less).
Chris Ward on 01 Aug 2010 at 6:17 pm #
Hi
I have read the brief of ALAC’s submission to the Law Commission. I note there is a lot of emphasis on the responsibilities of the licensed vendor. I have long since wondered why there is not a licensing system in place for the purchaser and/or drinker. Just as losing one’s driver’s license has been shown to be the single most effective way of modifying behaviour on the road I am convinced that losing one’s legal right to purchase or consume alcohol would be a most effective way of improving drinking behaviour. I know people will say those that are alcoholics would still get their booze and people will find ways around a loss of license but the inconvenience, the humiliation and feeling of being disappointed with one’s self would have a significant impact on most people at a much earlier stage BEFORE they become alcoholics. Indeed losing their driver’s license for DIC is a wake up call for many. I have witnessed this being the case and seen people’s behaviour change. Why not build on the driver’s licence experience with an alcohol license?
The license could be used to back up most of the drinking laws we already have by introducing license penalties for offences and additional laws could be added, for example, making it an offence to supply people who have lost their license.
Of course I can see many reasons people would argue against such a system claiming, for example, it would be a draconion attack on the freedom of individuals to which I would counter that (a) Young people already have to use ID to obtain access to licensed premises or buy liquor so it would have little effect on their freedom so long as they did not infringe. (b) That we really have to acknowledge we have a serious and growing problem with alcohol so we have to take a serious approach. (c) Having to produce ID at the time of purchasing alcohol is no more an attack on individual’s rights than putting up prices to the point that people who have no history of abusing alcohol cannot afford the luxury they clearly desire (to have a drink).
People will also claim that it would lead to an illegal trade and folks will find a way around the law. I would counter that no matter what measures you introduce (including price hikes) people will do this. At least the license would be an effective tool for enforcing all the laws we have now and which we may have in the future.
And I know, what about overseas vistors, etc? Well the aclohol license would be similar to the driving license and could be linked. People are already checked for the likes of drug offences. I am not aware of any such system overseas but I believe binge drinking is becoming more of a problem in many parts of the world previously thought to have more sophisticated drinking habits. Perhaps other countries would follow us, in which case the license would be transferable. Also, as I say below this is not a silver bullet and I am sure there is none. If a few tourists misbehave that would be a much lesser problem than we now have.
I believe the suggestion deserves seious thought and robust discussion even though I am sure many people would reject it out of hand (before thinking it through). I hope ALAC has the wisdom to consider ALL ideas because although the specific idea may not be a chosen solution it may lead to others which do lead to improvements. I am not so naive as to think this is a silver bullet but I am hopeful that it may help. I feel that we are at a position where new ideas are badly needed. I haven’t seen this one discussed anywhere so I assume it is new or at least its new to the current discussion.
Yours faithfully