Southland liquor outlets have been given the green light to continue trading up to 16 hours a day, despite Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora calling for shorter hours.
On Wednesday, Southland district councillors voted almost unanimously to stick with the status quo for off-licence operating hours, meaning bottle stores and supermarkets could continue to sell liquor between 7am and 11pm, daily.
The decision went against a staff recommendation to shave off three hours a day and an even tougher stance from HNZ to cut back four hours.
Cr Paul Duffy said he had not seen a need to sell alcohol as early as 7am but recently approved a special licence for the Garston dog trials and it might suit them to buy alcohol before 9am.
Cr Philip Dobson was the lone voice in support of reducing daily trading hours
"Just in review of listening to everyone here, a lot of it seems to come back to inconvenience and I just wonder where inconvenience fits with our responsibilities around harm reduction," Cr Dobson said.
"I’m hearing about guys that need to pick up their booze on the way to the dog trials, when you’ve got a chill trailer and I’m sure there’s a fridge in Garston.
‘‘I’m sure there’s at least one of them."
Wednesday’s decision followed a public consultation late last year and presentations from Hospitality New Zealand and HNZ.
In January, HNZ medical officer of health Michael Butchard told the council alcohol caused 900 deaths, 1250 cancer diagnoses and 30,000 hospital visits every year in New Zealand.
The burden of alcohol was large and justified a local alcohol policy which did more rather than less, he said.
HNZ recommended trading hours of 9am-9pm.
Although the council opted to keep trading hours the same, it did approve some changes.
That included removing "no restrictions" wording from on-licence trading hours, considering glass vessels at events and new owners not needing to consult with neighbouring properties.
It also reduced the timeframe for review to four years and added health centres, rehabilitation centres, Marae, and Fale Pasifika as sensitive places.
The final policy will be adopted by the council following public notification.
In 2024, Auckland brought forward off-licence closure times to 9pm, while Christchurch followed suit last year.
• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
