Alcohol

Law changes proposed for alcohol sales rules will treat West Aucklanders like adults by scrapping alcohol licensing trusts, an ACT MP says.

Suicide among Māori and Pasifika women is more likely to involve acute alcohol use compared to European females, a study has found.

New research, Kaupapa Te Rapu, has put Māori whānau lived experience with alcohol harm at the forefront of its findings.

Remote alcohol sellers in south Auckland are failing to properly verify the ages of buyers and are not displaying their liquor licences properly on their sites, research has found.

A group determined to tackle the number of new bottle shops says there has been a burst of licencing applications ahead of stiffer new rules.

Supermarkets and bottle stores won’t be able to sell alcohol after 9pm, while there will be a freeze on new off-licenses in some town centres.

Big changes are coming soon for Auckland's local alcohol policy, including stricter trading hours and a two-year freeze on new liquor licenses in some areas.

The council first began drafting a local alcohol policy (LAP) in 2013, but in 2014, the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority recommended councils halt their development.

“For too long we haven’t been able to have a voice,” a South Auckland leader says of the control of booze sales in his area.

Documents obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act show police estimate the harm from alcohol to be about $7.8 billion a year, compared to $1.8 billion for illegal drugs.