The Return Of The Nanny State – Monday 23rd August 2010

“Raising the off-license purchase age and restricting opening hours of bars and liquor outlets is an attack on the freedoms of New Zealanders and shows National’s opposition to the Nanny State was just electioneering rhetoric.” says ACT on Campus President, Peter McCaffrey.

“In a free society the government's role is to protect its citizens from harm by keeping the peace and enforcing the rule of law. It is not the job of politicians to tell adults what they can buy, how much they can buy and when and where they can buy it,” said Mr McCaffrey.

“The Nanny State and corporatism truly have returned to the beehive and it’s time we showed MPs that these policies are no more welcome now than they were under the previous government.

"Instead of attempting to enforce and uphold existing alcohol laws that are currently routinely ignored, Simon Power and the National party have cowed to pressure to special interest groups like bars and pups who would like nothing more than for young people to be forced to spend their money with them rather than at supermarkets.

“Restricting opening hours will have absolutely no impact on New Zealand's drinking culture, will destroy New Zealand’s night life and lead more alcohol related harm.

"Rather than sobering up and heading home in small groups throughout the night, this policy will force everyone out on to the streets all at once leading to more violence and mayhem in our cities at night.

"Where similar policies have been introduced in Australia, instead of simply heading home earlier as politicians expected, a culture of 'after-town' parties have developed where young people head home to continue drinking in less safe and less controlled environments.

“In New Zealand we consider age 18 to be wise enough to get married, to join the police or the army and go to war, to sign contracts and get a credit card, to own a gun and even to vote. If MPs don’t think 18 and 19 years olds are mature enough to buy a bottle of wine to drink at home or to take to a restaurant then how can they possibly make such an important decision as to who should represent them in parliament?

“ACT on Campus urges all MPs to oppose the raising of the purchase age to 20 and to target the real harm caused by alcohol instead of tinkering with purchase hours.”

ENDS

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