Alcohol Bill proposals common-sense changes
The ODT editorial (19.3.26) "Alcohol harm downplayed" does not tell the full story.
According to the regulatory impact statement for the Sale & Supply of Alcohol (Improving Alcohol Regulation) Bill, the government has identified that they want to remove or reduce regulatory requirements and to minimise the harm caused by excessive or irresponsible consumption of alcohol.
The Bill is a rebalancing of some of the changes made in 2023 that ultimately ended up in delays, unintended consequences and costs for licensees.
The New Zealand Alcohol Beverages Council has welcomed the proposed changes to the Bill as this is a common-sense approach to help improve our licensing system.
For licence-holders the proposed changes mean that once again only their own local community (within 1km of the licensed premise) will be able to object to the renewal of their alcohol licence. This will stop a person objecting from anywhere around New Zealand to a local licence renewal across Otago and Southland.
The Bill also allows for greater flexibility for the screening of televised events outside of usual licensed hours such as for the Rugby World Cup; allowing restaurants and bars to stock zero and/or low-alcohol beverages; winery cellar door provisions to be extended to breweries and distilleries and strengthening home delivery, etc.
We also need to remember that we are drinking differently and more adults than ever are choosing to drink in moderation. Five out of six New Zealanders (83.4%) drink beer, wine and spirits responsibly, and there has been an across-the-board decline in different measures of riskier drinking as compared to 2016-17.
[Virginia Nicholls is executive director of the New Zealand Alcohol Beverages Council. Editor.]
On the other hand
I write in support of the editorial that proposed law changes to New Zealand’s alcohol laws downplays the harm alcohol does to our society. Often the impact of easy access is greatest among the most vulnerable.
Thirty percent of those seen by the sexual abuse/assault assessment service in Southern, involve alcohol. While not the only factor linked to sexual assaults, it has a particular impact on those under 25 who form 70% of the approximately 200 patients we see each year.
As a doctor who has spent 25 years caring for those who have been sexually abused and assaulted, I would advocate for widening the criteria as to who can have a say in New Zealand’s liquor laws.
It is public health issue that costs everyone and can have a lifetime impact, as the Crestani family have so clearly articulated.
[Dr McIlraith is clinical leader of the Southern Sexual Abuse Assessment and Treatment Service. Editor.]
Not in their back yard
So, while every person worried about their backyard spends their days and night worrying about a mine that will employ hundreds of staff, Invercargill approves an AI data centre that will employ about as many people as you have fingers and toes, whilst sucking up as much power as an aluminium smelter.
At this rate we will be able to employ under 500 people for all the power generation in the entire country. Sounds good to me, let's build 10 more. Outrageous. Good thing it’s not in any rich people's backyards, they might've had something to say about it.
Manage My Health is proving unmanageable
Manage My Health was hacked a while ago. Now, by having to navigate through multiple access points to create new passwords, it has made the ability to log on pretty much impossible.
This means the software programmers have succeeded admirably. By making it inaccessible to the people it is supposed to assist in giving results of blood tests etc, means, they have reduced the possibility of being hacked substantially.
I inquired at my local medical practice whether in my old age I was singularly idiotic in my inability to follow the instructions given to me regarding logging on, and was advised by the receptionist that they have received numerous complaints about the logging-on procedure.
I was also told by a friend who uses accounting software so is not computer illiterate by any means, they have found the whole process totally frustrating.
For those old enough to remember the English comedy Yes Minister, we now have a living breathing example of insane bureaucracy at its finest.
By making it impossible to easily log on to Manage My Health, those supposed to manage their health have no chance whatsoever, thereby dying perhaps prematurely, and decreasing the expenses of keeping people healthy.
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