Communities push back against government’s proposed alcohol reforms

Source: Radio New Zealand

Concerns are growing among health providers and whānau about the governments proposed alcohol reforms, with warnings they could increase harm in vulnerable communities.

A young māmā from East Auckland says the reforms feel like “profit over people”, and “a slap in the face,” especially for advocates who have worked hard to decrease alcohol visibility in their rohe.

Twenty-five-year-old Tiana Kiro is calling for the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Improving Alcohol Regulation) Amendment Bill to be scrapped, after it was introduced to Parliament in March by Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee and Regulation Minister David Seymour.

Kiro, who was born and raised in Glen Innes, said liquor stores were part of “everyday life” growing up and she did not want the same for her pēpi.

“For my community, alcohol is everywhere,” she told RNZ.

“When I left my whare every day to go to school, it was at every corner. It was normalised like milk, sugar, bread.”

The mother of one, who is expecting another baby, said that environment shaped the people around her.

“I don’t want that around my babies. I don’t want it normalised.”

She said the proposed reforms risked embedding that even further.

“To me, that looks like putting profit before people.”

What are the proposed reforms?

The government says the Bill aims to reduce red tape, make it easier for businesses to obtain licences, and trust adults to make their own choices.

Key changes include:

• Limiting objections to licence applications or renewals to only those living or working in the same council area, or within 1 kilometre of the proposed licensed premises.
• Allowing licence applicants to respond to objections
• Preventing licence renewals being declined due to local alcohol policies
• Expanding who can sell alcohol, including clubs and some restaurants
• Making it easier to host events with alcohol
• Allowing licensed venues to open outside normal hours for major events – like the Rugby World Cup
• Letting barbers and hairdressers offer limited alcohol without a licence
• Expanding tasting rules beyond wineries
• Simplifying rules for low and zero alcohol options
• Clarifying responsibilities for alcohol delivery services

McKee said the changes would make the system “fairer” and less bureaucratic, while Seymour said adults in a “free society” should be trusted to make their own choices.

The Bill is expected to be considered by Parliament in the coming months.

A 2024 report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research estimates alcohol-related harm costs Aotearoa around $9.1 billion annually, including about 900 deaths, 1250 cancers, and tens of thousands of hospitalisations.

Māori experience disproportionate harm and are more than twice as likely to die from alcohol-related causes than non-Māori. Māori are also more likely to be apprehended by police for an offence that involves alcohol.

Tamariki Māori are also exposed to alcohol marketing significantly more often than Pākehā children.

Research shows this is closely linked to environmental factors, including higher exposure to alcohol outlets, greater levels of deprivation, and reduced access to health services.

In a statement to RNZ, McKee said the $9.1 billion figure cited by critics is “a gross cost estimate that tells us nothing about which specific policies reduce harm or at what cost.”

“Good policy requires that discipline. We should be asking whether each rule is delivering measurable harm reduction proportionate to its costs, and removing those that aren’t.

“The single biggest driver of that figure is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which accounts for $4.8 billion of the total. FASD is a serious harm and the government is taking it seriously, directing more of the alcohol levy toward identifying and funding cost-effective interventions to reduce it.”

McKee said licensed premises are controlled environments with trained staff and legal obligations, and making it easier for people to drink in those settings could reduce harm compared to unsupervised drinking.

She also rejected concerns the reforms would silence communities.

“Everyone will continue to maintain the ability to object to liquor licences and renewals in their local community,” she said.

“Our changes are about stopping those who are not impacted, such as people on the other side of the country, or even overseas, from objecting.”

McKee said the reforms also strengthen rules around alcohol delivery and aim to improve access to zero-alcohol alternatives.

“Every New Zealander deserves policy focused on what actually reduces harm. That is the standard these reforms are held to, and it is the right standard for all New Zealanders regardless of their background.”

But critics say the reforms weaken safeguards and prioritise economic growth over public health, especially in communities where access “is already a problem.”

“In our town centre alone, there’s like three or four liquor stores, and we’re not even that big,” Kiro said.

She also raised concerns about proposals to allow alcohol in spaces like salons and barbershops.

“You go get your nails done, you get offered a drink, then another, and then you’re driving home,” she said.

“For some people, it’s not easy to say no.

“Someone might have a few drinks and then get behind the wheel, and then who do you blame? Profit over people, that’s what it feels like.”

For kaupapa Māori provider Ki Tua o Matariki, those experiences reflect what they are hearing across their communities.

Chief executive Zoe Witika-Hawke said the reforms risk deepening existing inequities.

“These changes might seem small on their own, but together they make alcohol more present in our everyday environments, and that matters.

“We know alcohol outlets are more concentrated in lower-income communities, while access to health support is often more limited.

“That imbalance shapes the environments our whānau are living in every day.”

She said alcohol harm was not just about individual choice.

“It’s shaped by how available it is, where it shows up, and what becomes normal.”

Witika-Hawke pointed to the impact on future generations, including FASD, a lifelong condition caused by prenatal alcohol exposure.

“Every increase in alcohol availability increases risk, particularly for māmā hapū navigating stress and systemic barriers.”

Te Whatu Ora estimates 1800 to 3000 babies every year may be affected by FASD. That’s roughly 8 babies per day.

“We need to be clear, this is not about blaming māmā. Stigma has never prevented harm. Safe environments and strong support systems do.”

Witika-Hawke said communities had already been clear about what they wanted.

“They don’t want alcohol shops everywhere in their communities.”

Hāpai Te Hauora chief operating officer Jason Alexander said the reforms ignored strong evidence linking alcohol availability to harm.

“Anything that makes alcohol more accessible and visible will inevitably cause more harm,” he told RNZ.

“We know that people’s hauora is affected by the environment in which they live. If alcohol is more accessible, then people will access it more.”

He said alcohol harm extended beyond just the individual.

“Alcohol harm doesn’t happen in isolation. It is shaped by the environments we create, how widely alcohol is available, how it’s marketed, and how many outlets operate in a community.”

Restricting objections to licences, he said, limited community voice.

“That is essentially silencing those communities.”

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway told RNZ the scale of alcohol harm was significant in Aotearoa, and that the reforms appeared to remove effective protections.

“It does seem like that is giving the alcohol industry a wish list of changes,” he said.

“We know that when alcohol becomes more available, these increases are strongly linked to increased hazardous drinking.”

“We also see higher rates of cancer, and we know there is no safe limit.”

Polling commissioned by Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Cancer Society found 76 percent of respondents supported limits on the number of alcohol outlets in neighbourhoods.

“So changes that reduce community say, go directly against that support,” he said.

“We’re really disappointed that this package introduces very few restrictions and more liberalisation.”

Galloway said the direction of the reforms contradicted other government strategies, including suicide prevention efforts that put an emphasis on reducing alcohol harm.

“It just makes logical sense that we would look to restrict alcohol, not make it more available.”

Pre-colonisation, Māori were among the few known societies not to have manufactured or used alcohol – or psychoactive substances.

Quoted by Rev. W J Williams, ‘In the Beginning. Period up to 1886’, “The white man and the whisky bottle came to New Zealand together.”

The Māori word for alcohol is ‘waipiro’, translating to ‘stinking water’.

Witika-Hawke told RNZ, alcohol was used as a tool to take away their land – specifically in their iwi Ngāti Paoa.

“We’ve worked really hard to tell another story about our relationship with alcohol. And the alcohol industry has really, I think, picked on us in regards to ensuring that we’re trapped in the thinking of alcohol as part of who we are.

“It’s not part of who we are. It wasn’t part of who we were prior to colonisation. And returning to that state of health where it isn’t in our communities, I think, is the journey that we all want, and need, so that we remain healthy and don’t go back to a place where alcohol is thought to be who we are.”

At a time where fuel prices and the costs of living increases, Kiro said many whānau are already under pressure, and changes like these revert away from the issue.

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about, rent, food, petrol,” she said. “And now you’re adding more alcohol into the mix.”

She said addiction was a reality in many communities.

“Unless you’ve actually been around it, you don’t understand how hard it is.

“We’re not saying no alcohol forever… We’re saying stop oversaturating communities that are already struggling.

“Do I need seven liquor stores in my community? No, not really.”

She said whānau had spent years advocating for change, only to feel ignored.

“It’s a bit of a slap in the face. We did the mahi. We showed up. We told them what’s happening in our communities.

“And now it feels like they’re not listening.

“If they don’t listen now, by the time they realise something’s gone wrong, it’s going to be too late.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand