We support the Hon Kieran McAnulty’s Sale & Supply of Alcohol (Sales on Anzac Day morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day) Amendment Bill passing its first reading.

“Allowing restaurants, bars and supermarkets to sell or serve alcohol like any other day during Anzac Day morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day is a win for common sense”, said NZABC executive director Virginia Nicholls.

We also support the Bill going one-step further, allowing retailers who presently sell beer, wine and spirits to open on these days.

In the next ten days business owners and customers will experience the confusion across two of these holidays including ANZAC day and Easter.

RSA’s have to apply for a special licence to serve veterans any beer, wine or spirits.

On Good Friday and Easter Sunday customers in a restaurant or pub need to have a meal alongside their preferred drink.

Customers are generally not allowed to buy beer, wine or spirits from retailers on these days.  There is one exception wine made on the premises or from produce harvested on-site can be purchased from a Cellar Door on Easter Sunday.

We are also supportive of MP Mike Butterick’s Members Bill Sale & Supply of Alcohol (Restrictions on Issue of Off-Licences and Low and No Alcohol Products) Amendment Bill which has been drawn from the biscuit tin.

The Bill allows restaurants to hold an on-licence and off-licence under the same roof.  This would allow a restaurant that is also a speciality food store to sell beer, wine and spirits through an off-licence at the same time removing regulatory roadblocks.

The Bill also allows restaurants to serve low-alcohol products and/or the sale of no alcohol beer, wine and spirits.

In the SSAA s 52 presently specifies low-alcohol drinks are to be available for on-licences.  There is no mention of no-alcohol.  This goes against the SSAA and reducing alcohol-related harm.

“This supports the flexibility to provide low-alcohol and/or no alcohol [1] products to meet changing customer demand”, said Virginia.

It is also important to acknowledge that we are drinking less and drinking better.  The Stats NZ beer, wine and spirits consumption per capita has declined more than 30% since 1986 [2].

The NZ Health survey [3] provides information on New Zealander’s health and wellbeing shows that five out of six (83.4%) NZ adults are drinking beer, wine and spirits responsibly. This is an increase of 4.7 percentage points over the past four years (78.7% 2019/20).

This means that one out of six adults drink in a hazardous way [4], which in the past four years  has declined to 16.6% (21.3% 2019/20).

The Health NZ guidelines for low risk drinking are two standard drinks a day for women, and three standard drinks a day for men, with at least two alcohol-free days each week.

References:

[1] Zero-alcohol beverages contain less than 1.15% ethanol and low alcohol products between 1.15% – 2.5% ethanol.

[2] Stats NZ: Total NZ population 15 years and over alcohol available for consumption (per head of population).  December 1986 (11.282 litres) and December 2024 (7.773 litres).  Browse – Infoshare – Statistics New Zealand (stats.govt.nz)

[3] New Zealand Health Survey | Ministry of Health NZ, accessed 19 November 2024

[4] NZ Health Survey 2024:  Hazardous drinking among the total population.  Hazardous drinking refers to a score of 8 or more on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), which suggests hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption.