This article was first published by RNZ.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that the bill would abolish alcohol licensing trust monopolies, not the trusts themselves.
Law changes proposed for alcohol sales rules will treat West Aucklanders like adults by scrapping alcohol licensing trust monopolies, an ACT MP says.
Currently, publicly-owned alcohol licensing trusts operate in West Auckland - as well as Invercargill and Mataura in Southland - are used to run hotels, taverns and off-licences, with the profits going back to the community.
But if passed, MP Simon Court’s member’s bill would abolish all alcohol licensing trust monopolies.
The current system is a mess, with confusing inconsistencies, monopolies and inflated prices, Court said. For example, supermarkets in licensing trust zones are not allowed to sell alcohol, but it can be delivered to people’s doors.
Getting rid of the trusts would allow more bars and eateries to emerge, and bring back vibrancy, diversity and colour to local communities, he said.
“A lot of the restrictions are outdated, they’re nanny state, they really don’t recognise that West Auckland is a growing and vibrant part of Auckland ... West Auckland is growing rapidly.”
There were only eight venues licensed as taverns or hotels in West Auckland, which has a population of 296,000 people, he said: “One for every 37,000 residents. In Auckland as a whole, there is one venue for every 3900 people.”
“The community is being underserved. It means that some locals either go without the services that other Aucklanders rightfully expect ... or they have to travel and spend their money elsewhere in Auckland.”
“We have one hotel where you can get room service in West Auckland - [for] 300,000 people. I mean name a comparable city of 300,000 where there’s only one hotel.”
The issue had been a problem for some time, the MP said. So he has written to his fellow-MPs, asking them to refer the bill directly to the House for a first reading, instead of having to wait for it to be drawn by ballot - the usual course for a Member’s Bill.
Waitākere ward councillor Ken Turner said he was sympathetic to Court’s efforts, but did not see it as a top priority.
“It’s not a high priority. But it’s been a long-lasting issue that is always kind of simmering under the surface, and it would be good to sort this out.”
Locals had debated the issue several times already, Turner said.
“It has been to a referendum twice, I think, and both times that referendum failed.
“I do think there’s an argument where if it’s kept in its present form, there is a regular - once a decade or something - referendum, built into the local body elections.”
Court said about 80 percent of the funds generated by the trust are from pokie machines, not alcohol sales, undermining the argument the trusts help support community causes. And he did not support the argument that more controlled sales of alcohol minimised alcohol-related harm.
- RNZ