Whānau are celebrating after hapori action prevented a new liquor store from opening next door to Te Teko Superette and Lunch Bar.

"We were incredibly relieved to receive the email from Whakatāne District Council that Tom and Jerry Wholesale had withdrawn their application for the proposed Te Teko Liquor store" said Yvonne Pryor (Ngāti Awa), secretary of Te Teko Residents Association.

"This means no more liquor store, no more hearing, and our community will be that much safer from all those harms and social challenges that come with waipiro."

Tom and Jerry Wholesale Limited notified their application to open a new full-service liquor store in September 2023. The application attracted 333 objections from community members in Te Teko, from across the motu, and even from whanaunga in Australia.

A hearing was scheduled to be held in Whakatāne over three days from 14-16 October, with 32 community members indicating they wished to speak to their objection.

"I would like to acknowledge the Whakatāne District Council and the District Licensing Committee for setting aside the time to hear from our community, and for making the proposed hearing accessible for those who wish to be heard remotely.

"Our community was also heartened that the Committee was enabling us to bring our tikanga and present our whakaaro in Te Reo Māori. While we feel relief that we do not have to continue our preparations for the hearing, we are grateful the Committee was prepared to be so accommodating.

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"Ultimately, this proposal to bring a liquor store to our community, a short distance from our Kura and Kohanga, would have been detrimental to the welfare of whānau and hapori in Te Teko.

"When we met to organise against this application, it was clear that many of us, our tūpuna, and our mokopuna had experienced serious harms from waipiro.

"From road deaths due to drink driving, punch ups at parties, family violence, neglect and abuse of our beautiful children, and all the health consequences, waipiro has damaged us. With all this history of harm we know we don’t want a liquor store in Te Teko.

"We were prepared to take our mamae to the Committee, so that we could protect the next generation" Pryor said.

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