Responding to years of outcry, the government is planning an overhaul of the way liquor licences are granted. Emily Worman, Grant Hewison and the team at Communities Against Alcohol Harm explain why change is so desperately needed.

Mereana Peka is a respected Māori warden who has been working hard to reduce alcohol related harm in Tāmaki ki te Tonga (South Auckland) for decades. Like her mother before her, Mereana takes her duties concerning alcohol related harm, set out in the Māori Community Development Act of 1962, very seriously.

Across the country, the evidence is clear on the harm  alcohol does in the streets and in our homes. Put simply, it’s all about too much access to alcohol. The easier it is to get alcohol, the more harm we see or experience. That’s why Mereana is passionate about stopping the proliferation of alcohol outlets.

Since May 2021, the Turehou Māori Wardens ki Ōtara Charitable Trust has submitted 66 objections to alcohol licence applications and sat through five District Licensing Committee (DLC) hearings. How many times do you think those objections have been fully upheld by the DLC?

Only once.

With our support, Mereana successfully convinced the DLC that a new Thirsty Liquor on Bairds Road in Ōtara wasn’t a good idea. The fact that all three regulatory agencies also opposed a brand new liquor store in this location added significant weight to her opposition. What about the other 65 objections? Some are waiting in the system, a few have encouraged applicants to withdraw, and she has had some success with slightly stronger conditions imposed and variations withdrawn. The majority are approved.

Often, she has to fight being “struck out” as the alcohol industry lawyers argue she shouldn’t have the right to object at all. Currently, the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 requires potential objectors to show that they have a greater interest in the liquor licence application than the public generally.

Alcohol industry applicants, including the supermarkets, work hard to successfully strike out objectors on the basis that they live too far away or there is a main road between where they reside and the liquor outlet. Sometimes this leads potential objectors to withdraw. In having to provide their residential address, other objectors have been put off due to privacy concerns. Some objectors report being approached by applicants at their homes to discuss their objections instead of through the formal channels.

If it’s hard for individual members of the public to object, perhaps community groups will have better luck? Not likely. In February 2019, for example, the Gisborne-based Māori group Ka Pai Kaiti had their objection to a new liquor store struck out by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) because they didn’t have standing, despite their deep connection to the local community. The same year, ARLA also concluded that our group, Communities Against Alcohol Harm, did not have a greater interest than the public generally. This ARLA decision means groups like us, who are motivated and organised, cannot object to liquor licence applications. Even local members of parliament, local councillors and local boards have had their objections challenged.

This is hard mahi and it wasn’t meant to be this way. The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act had good intentions. It was written in a way that allowed the community voice to be heard. Miserably, due to the influence and role of the alcohol industry, what we have now is a highly litigious environment that inhibits community participation. This is largely due to the rights of cross-examination included in the act which allow lawyers to cross-examine objectors.

This is why we exist. CAAH navigates objectors through the process and we do everything we can to prepare them for hearings, and protect them during the hearing itself. We are a very small group of largely volunteers. Our heart is in South Auckland, we have a committed group in Ōtautahi, and we have supported objectors in Gisborne, Tokoroa, Hamilton, Southland and Northland to navigate these highly legalistic processes.

We welcome justice minister Kiri Allen’s announcement that the government plans to change the law to make it easier to object to new liquor stores. We want to see more everyday people participating in this process. Their love for and knowledge of their own communities should not be tested by the alcohol industry.

In drafting the new legislation, minister Allan might like to look to the Resource Management Act 1991 for inspiration. That act includes a section requiring that hearings avoid unnecessary formality and recognise tikanga Māori; cross-examination of objectors is not permitted. These provisions were deliberately included to ensure RMA hearings are welcoming environments for community submitters.

We trust that local people understand their community the best. We are relieved to hear that the proposed changes to the act would remove the ability to appeal Local Alcohol Policies (LAPs), which allow local communities to decide on where and when alcohol is sold in their neighbourhood. The current appeals process is costing councils and ratepayers millions in legal fees, as alcohol companies and supermarkets have thwarted efforts by local communities and their councils to limit the sale of alcohol in their communities.

In Auckland, a provisional LAP has been in the appeal process for seven years, at a cost to the council of more than $1 million in legal fees. The matter is currently before the Supreme Court. There are similar stories in Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton, where councils have abandoned their efforts to put in place LAPs after facing legal opposition from the supermarkets. Many councils, including the four largest authorities accounting for half of the total population, have halted or abandoned their efforts to implement LAPs.

This has increased the gap between community expectations for greater control over the availability of alcohol, and the legislation that was meant to achieve that.

The entrenched, powerful and extremely well-resourced alcohol industry (especially the supermarket duopoly) have fought tooth and nail to preserve and expand their alcohol licences so they can sell and supply more alcohol, including to very vulnerable communities. Right now, standing up to the alcohol industry is very much a David versus Goliath struggle for community objectors like Mereana. For us, change cannot come soon enough.

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