Proposed Alcohol law changes “as useless as teats on a bull!”

The Kiwi Party
Press Release
23 August, 2010

“In announcing their proposals for dealing with the country’s serious youth drinking culture, the Government is again letting us all down by failing to show any courage or conviction to seriously deal with the problem,” said Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock.

"Justice Minister Simon Power endlessly bleats out the mantra about how the Government must ‘strike a balance.’ This ignores the reality that things have been out of balance since Parliament, under a National lead government in 1999, liberalised our alcohol laws by allowing supermarket sales and lowering the drinking age. To hell with balance, what we need is some very tough measures for a while so that over a period of time the pendulum may then, if we are lucky, swing back to a place of balance.

"No matter what negative social issue parliament has attempted to address over the last 20 years, there is not a single statistic that has improved, simply because our elected representatives do not have the guts to take the bold steps needed.

“A split drinking age can only work if it is backed by the introduction of the vast majority of the recommendations of the Law Commission. On its own it becomes a joke in the eyes of our teenagers who will be able to circumvent its restrictions easily.

“Making it an offence to supply underage youth with alcohol is a good step to take, but it should apply to parents as well, since it has been indicated in many surveys that most of the alcohol being supplied is coming from parents who cannot say no to their children. Parents should be allowed to give their teenager a glass to drink if they want to when they are with their children at home, but it should be an offence to send them out the door to a party with a bottle of beer, wine or spirits for them to consume and share around.

“How are the police supposed to enforce the new law about supplying a minor if it is not also an offence for those who are underage to be consuming the alcohol? Then at least pressure could be brought to bear on an intoxicated offender to explain where they got the alcohol from.

“If Parliament only passes these measures after ignoring all the submissions made to the Law Commission and even more submissions yet to be made to the Select Committee, then we can be sure we will still be talking about the problems of youth drinking in another five years’ time.

"I am angry at this pathetic response to the horrendous damage occurring to our precious young people and those families being damaged by the deadly consequences of alcohol abuse,” said Mr Baldock.

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