Auckland alcohol policy an important step in battle for safer, healthier communities

Auckland Council’s approval of a Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) today is an important step towards greater health, wellbeing and safety for residents - but bolder national regulations are also needed to stem the tide of alcohol harm for Aotearoa.

Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA) congratulates all those involved in Auckland Council’s long battle against the might of the alcohol lobby and supermarkets for the right to determine its own rules about where and when alcohol can be sold.

"We know that earlier closing times for sales at supermarkets and bottle stores reduce alcohol harm and increase safety for communities," HCA’s Rōpū Aparangi Waipiro (Alcohol Expert Advisory Group) Co-Chair Steve Randerson said.

The two-year halt on new licenses in the central city and 23 other Auckland suburbs recognises these areas are already saturated with alcohol outlets.

"This will provide important but temporary relief for those communities, but the council must ensure it continues beyond the two-year period and brings down the inequities in supply," Randerson said.

"In neighbourhoods where more Māori and Pasifika live the availability of alcohol is higher, and there are serious concerns about the impacts on young people and the wider community."

While HCA welcomes the Auckland LAP, we are calling for much bolder regulative action by the Government to reduce the estimated $9.1 billion in alcohol harm every year.

We cannot celebrate today’s significant action by Auckland Council without remembering its long delay and enormous costs, at the hands of those who fought their legal battle to put their profits over the health and safety of our communities.

"As far back as 2010, Auckland communities marched against the relentless creep of bottle stores. In 2014, surveys showed over 90 per cent of Aucklanders wanted no more off-licences."

The Supreme Court ruling upholding the Auckland LAP and the community participation amendment has provided much needed protection from industry legal tactics, but it won’t stop intense lobbying to prevent other alcohol harm reduction measures.

"It’s time our leaders recognised the fundamental conflict of interest between harmful commodity industries and the health, wellbeing and safety of their citizens," Randerson said.

Public health policy making must be appropriately insulated from commercial interests through stronger transparency standards, lobbying rules and closing the revolving door between industry and the Beehive.