Personal responsibility vital to success of liquor law reforms

PARTY DRUG: The Liquor Reform Bill proposes making it an offence to promote alcohol in a way that has special appeal to people under the purchasing age.

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OPINION: There are two strands in the Government's proposed package of liquor law reforms that have barely raised comment but which may be the most significant.

Advocating the package, Justice Minister Simon Power made it clear that his objectives were to target binge-drinking and other alcohol abuse, to reduce excessive drinking by teenagers and unsociable behaviour that has negative effects on the community.

The Government wished to achieve this while having little impact on low and moderate consumers and without excessive regulation adding to costs.

With the intended legislation to give effect to the package, Mr Power is implementing 82 per cent of the recommendations made by the Law Commission to curb the abuse of alcohol in the community. As might be expected with such far-reaching legislation, the effects will be widespread and all sectors of the beverage and hospitality industries will be affected to some degree.

Predictably, there are many voices who say the package will fail to deliver. They overlook the key elements on which the proposals are based - evidence that has been carefully sifted by the Law Commission and the Government's advisers; and that the Government intends making parents and guardians responsible for alcohol consumption by their children.

For parents of teenagers under 18 that may bring great relief and provide a touchstone to resist all arguments for alcohol-fuelled teenage parties. As proposed, those supplying alcohol to teenagers will be required to have the explicit permission of their parents or guardians to do so.

Personal responsibility, or in the case of minors, the responsibility of the parent or legal guardian, is fundamental to bringing about the change the wider community and the Government wants. Such changes can be made, as has been demonstrated as recently as Queen's Birthday Weekend in June, when a well publicised crackdown on speeding produced the lowest road accident and fatality toll for many years.

The Government's proposed legislation is one step in the campaign to reduce drinking by teenagers. It will be coupled by further restrictions on the consumption of alcohol in public places and giving legal effect to the voluntary measures already in place not to direct alcohol advertising at those under the legal age of purchase. And, like the speeding campaign, there will need to be an extensive publicity campaign to bring about the enduring changes in behaviour the community seeks.

The binge-drinking culture and problems of teenage drinking are not unique to New Zealand, and the search for solutions has been the focus of research and analysis in other jurisdictions. Here, as for other elements of the proposed reforms, the Government has accepted those recommendations that are clearly based on sound scientific evidence while rejecting those that are not, or where the evidence is less definitive or implementation would have undesirable consequences.

The inflationary impact of a large increase in excise taxes and the unfair penalty such price increases would have on the great majority of consumers, who enjoy beverages in moderation, clearly influenced the Government. The experience of high prices for alcohol beverages in Sweden also demonstrates that price has little influence in stemming a binge- drinking culture.

WHETHER minimum prices will be an effective tool remains to be seen. The Government is rightly waiting to determine the results of such experiments elsewhere before trying to put in place measures that may superficially appear attractive but fail to achieve the intended outcome.

Among the other measures in the liquor reform bill that the Government will take to Parliament for approval are proposed restrictions on the composition of so called ready to drinks - pre-mixed versions of many popular spirit-based drinks, such as whisky and cola. The proposal is to limit the alcohol content to 5 per cent by volume and to a maximum of 1.5 standard drinks per container. Many RTDs based on premium spirits already fit within these constraints.

This focus on RTDs was not among the Law Commission's recommendations to the Government. In the commission's view, in spite of receiving many submissions suggesting that RTDs should be banned or controlled, it said: "We are not persuaded [and we] are reluctant to make distinctions between various liquor products".

Contrary to public perceptions, a standard drink from RTDs is the same as a standard drink of cider, beer or wine.

The consumer, influenced by factors other than law changes, will be the ultimate arbiter on how he or she chooses to drink and behave.

- Thomas Chin is chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Association.

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