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| Hospitality Association of New Zealand to the Social Services Committee on the Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill
15 August 2008 Hospitality Association of New Zealand Sale of Liquor (Objections to Applications) Amendment Bill Members of the Select Committee The Hospitality Association of New Zealand represents a diverse variety of New Zealand hospitality businesses including restaurants, caf￩ bars, hotels, off-licenses and a wide array of short and long term accommodation providers. The Association is voluntary and is primarily funded by membership subscriptions. Our membership of approximately 2300 plus members employ 11,610 full-time and 19,674 part time employees for a total of around 30,000 people. Approximately 83% of the Association’s members are small businesses and owner operated. The Association asserts that this figure mirrors the wider hospitality industry. There is also a perception that the Association speaks for and represents the interests of the hospitality industry as a whole. The Association has considered the bill and makes appropriate comment on selected aspects of the bill. The Association would like an opportunity to be heard before the Committee on its submission. Bruce H Robertson 1. Introduction 1.1 The Association does not support the Bill and further considers the Bill unnecessary in light of the Government’s forthcoming Sale and Supply of Liquor Enforcement Bill and announcement of a comprehensive review of liquor laws to be undertaken by the Law Commission. 1.2 The Association has been calling for such a review and fully supports the Law Commission’s forthcoming review and considers that hurried, piecemeal and ad hoc amendments to the Sale of Liquor Act usually result in poor legislation which is either unclear, inconsistent or ineffective. Historically, amendments to liquor laws are more successful when dealt with in a comprehensive way and the Association considers a complete review of liquor law as the most effective way for concerns such as those in the Bill to be considered against all issues associated with alcohol availability in the community. 1.3 In summary, the Association considers the Bill’s measures to provide communities with greater input on liquor licence applications and for applicants for licences to carry out an evaluation of the social impacts on the community fail to address the underlying issues in respect of access and availability of alcohol in the community, or at least are more appropriate for consideration as part of a wider review of liquor law with the object of bringing New Zealand’s liquor laws into line with community behaviours and concerns around the availability and use of alcohol. 1.4 In the alternative however, if the Bill must proceed that the social impact provisions be confined to ‘green site’ applications and preferably during the planning and resource consent process rather than being universally applied to all sites, including established business when licensed establishments change owners. 2. Social Impacts of Liquor Licence Applications 2.1 The new sections 9A and 31A set out the proposed social impact evaluation assessment requirements on applications for new on and off-licences. 2.2 Of concern to the Association is the wording in these proposed sections “every application”. Specifically, when a liquor retailing business changes owners, unless a purchaser buys a company that holds a current licence, a new licence will be required. The Association’s experience confirms that seldom are licensed companies purchased outright enabling the purchaser in most, though certainly not all, cases to trade on the existing licence. 2.2.1 Under the Bill this means that unless a company is acquired as a going concern, to enable a new licensee to operate an established business a new licence will be required following an ownership change. The Association considers this inappropriate and unjust and that if social impact evaluations are needed that they ought to be confined to newly proposed ‘greenfield’ liquor business yet to be established. 2.3 Further, while the Bill defines an “affected party” for the purposes of objections to licence applications there is no guidance in the Bill on what is meant by “social impact” in the proposed new sections 9A (1) (a) and 31A (1) (a) . For this reason, the Association considers the bill unclear and potentially inconsistent to both affected parties, licence applicants and the Licensing Authority that has the potential to introduce uncertainty into the granting of licence applications. 2.4 Indeed, as drafted, the Bill could potentially adversely affect long established and well run licensed establishments without any liquor management and retailing issues simply because an affected party is able to raise social impact concerns. It is this aspect of the Bill that the Association considers unjust and ineffective to address the underlying issue of liquor availability in the community. 2.5 Further, the Association considers that social impact concerns are more effectively addressed through changes to town planning and consent requirements rather than in an ad hoc and piecemeal way through hurried amendments to legislation slated for replacement. Indeed, the Association notes that the Law Commission’s brief includes consideration of the relationship between the Sale of Liquor Act, the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Local Government Act 2002. 2.6 The Association further considers that assessment of social impacts as part of the planning and consent process would ensure that established retailers do not face the potential of closure or uncertainty when they change owners. Consideration of the social impact as part of the planning and consent processes would also streamline all relevant planning procedures so that licence applicants are able to address all relevant considerations together rather than through a series of different applications. 3. Conclusion and Recommendations3.1 The Association recommends:
Without prejudice to the above recommendation, the Association recommends:
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