The
Wellington City Council has voted on its controversial interim draft
alcohol policy for off-licences amid fierce opposition from the city's
major supermarket chains.
The Strategy and Policy Committee today voted to set maximum trading hours for off-licences from 7am to 9pm city-wide.
Changing
the liquor selling hours would force so-called pre-loaders to plan
their drinking more carefully, and help stop people taking alcohol into
the central city, the council says.
The vote
means the committee will now send its final draft alcohol management
strategy and draft local alcohol policy to the public for feedback on
July 2 with submissions closing on August 2.
Phillipa
Clifford, of Progressive Enterprises which runs Countdown supermarkets,
says it was "of real concern [...] as supermarket operators [is that]
we're under sustained attack of being primarily responsible for alcohol
related harm in the city.
"There is no empirical evidence to support these attacks and we strongly refute them."
Ms
Clifford says only 1.7 percent of purchases in Countdown supermarkets
were alcohol only and the average age of their customers was 46.
The alcohol-only sales figure had come down considerably from 2.05 percent in 2009, she says.
Foodstuffs
Wellington General Manager Retail Services George Sutherland says a 9pm
cut-off for liquor sales would cause some confrontation between staff
and customers.
"If you enter a supermarket and
put a bottle of wine or craft beer or even a box of Tui in your basket
as well as laundry power and broccoli [and it passes 9pm] we can't sell
you one of those items.
"It compromises our business and provides and unpleasant situation. It's third world," he says.
Foodstuffs has four family-owned New World supermarkets in Wellington.
Mr
Sutherland says many of those buying alcohol from the New World
supermarkets were 30 or older. Wine sales to people between 18 and 30
were not in "abundant numbers".
Councillor
Justin Lester says the issue of pre-loading was "overcooked" and young
people were merely making a "rational economic choice" when buying
alcohol.
"I have $15 to spend. If I buy 12 beers at the supermarket it costs me $12, if I go to a bar I can buy one drink for $10."
Mr Lester does not believe changing the opening hours would not make a difference.
"I think if we want to change a binge drinking culture we need to look at it [as a society].
"Changing
drinking hours I don't think will make a difference, it assumes kids
can't make good decisions by themselves," he says.
Mr Lester voted to stay in line with the Government law to have off-licence hours from 7am to 11pm.
The council had three options for closing hours for off-licences which include supermarkets and liquor stores in Wellington.
Law
changes which come into force on December 18, will mean hours for
off-licences throughout the country will be from 7am to 11pm and 8am to
4am for on-licence premises which include bars, clubs and restaurants.
However, councils will be able to introduce their own local alcohol policies setting variations on those hours.
The
two other options on the table are a city-wide 7am-9pm limit and a 9pm
closing for central city and CBD southern area off-licences, with 11pm
remaining for the rest of the city.
3 News Thu, 20 Jun 2013 3:54p.m.
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