Families Commission agrees with Coroner

The Coroner ‘s findings into the death of James Webster have been released recommending that the Families Commission develop and promote alcohol awareness education at home and in schools to develop resources to assist and support parents and families in teaching young people about being safe with alcohol.

The Chief Families Commissioner, Carl Davidson, agrees with the Coroner, saying, “Alcohol education is a vital component in ensuring teenagers are safe. But we can’t stop there. We need a multi-agency and multi-pronged approach to reducing the harm caused by alcohol.”

The Families Commission have written two alcohol submissions on the subject of alcohol and believe that both regulatory measures and education are required.

“We can’t stop every teenager from drinking,” says Mr Davidson. “But we can make sure teenagers have the tools to make informed choices. In the 90’s New Zealand began to liberalise liquor laws in an effort to normalise drinking, but we did not change our attitude to drinking!

“With hindsight increased access to alcohol, combined with enshrined binge drinking attitudes seems like an accident waiting to happen. We will be working with ALAC, other agencies and communities to develop an integrated response to the Coroner’s recommendations,” says Mr Davidson.

Ends.

Notes:

Families Commission submission on Alcohol Reform Bill

This submission from the Families Commission makes the following points:

We support the requirement for licensing authorities to consider the impact of issuing an alcohol licence on the neighbourhood surrounding the proposed alcohol outlet (clause 7).

We support introducing a split age for purchasing alcohol – 18 years of age for on-licenses and 20 years of age for off-licenses (clauses 9 and 10).

We support provisions in the Bill that aim to prevent dairies from selling alcohol (clause 38).
We believe territorial authorities should all be required to adopt local alcohol policies (clause 75); and that the list of people that territorial authorities are required to consult when developing a local alcohol policy should be more inclusive to better reflect the character of the area (clause 78). These changes would improve community input into local alcohol licensing decisions.

We support the provision that it is a defence to a charge of supplying alcohol to a young person aged under 18 years, that the person charged: (a) is a parent or guardian of the young person; or (c) believes that they had the consent of the young person’s parent or guardian to supply the alcohol (clause 224(3)(c)).

We believe that further consideration of the tax regime and pricing of alcohol should be undertaken as part of the deliberation on the Alcohol Reform Bill.

The Families Commission strongly endorses the need for legislative change that:
protects young people and the communities where families live
promotes responsible drinking and sale of alcohol
effectively regulates public access to alcohol (including tax and pricing).

We believe further public education is needed to address the harmful aspects of New Zealand’s drinking culture. Alcohol free marae provide a positive exemplar of cultural models creating powerful transformative changes. The harm experienced by families who live with an alcoholic calls for a strong legislative response.

Full submission available on Families Commission website.

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