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Major alcohol law changes to be announced today are aimed at tackling New Zealand's binge-drinking culture, according to the Prime Minister John Key.
The government will try to limit the accessibility of alcohol through a number of changes being announced at 2pm.
Key told TV ONE's Breakfast that the government will give more power to parents, individuals and communities in an attempt to "tackle the harm" which he described as "the very young people drinking, those legally able to purchase, and then some others".
However Key said we also needed to accept that we had a binge drinking culture in New Zealand, and it will take more than legislation to change that.
"I can help and I can give guidance and direction through parliament, however the culture is a function of something we have grown up with. Each and every one of us can change that if we want to."
Recommendations will include splitting the legal drinking age - 18 years old for drinking in pubs and clubs and 20 years old for buying alcohol from a supermarket.
"Personally I tend to think that will help [reduce] the flow of alcohol to young people," Key said.
The vote on whether to split the age, leave it at 18 or raise it to 20 will be up to individual MPs' consciences rather than enforced by party lines.
Community gets a voice
Under the legislation, communities will be able to have a far greater say in the granting of liquor licences and will be able to object on the basis of density, hours of trade and locality.
Councils will be able to create their own local alcohol plan. If they choose not to, the government will announce maximum trading hours which will be come the default standard for both on and off-licence areas.
Justice Minister Simon Power told TVNZ's Q+A programme yesterday that currently availability of liquor and the ability to object to it is very narrow and that they "we're going to widen that".
Power also reiterated that the government isn't looking at an excise tax to make alcohol less affordable, but said it will be signalling to some outlets that they have improvements to make.
The changes follow a report from the Law Commission in April which made 153 recommendations to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.
Key said the government had either adopted, or to a large part addressed, 126 of those recommendations.
"We have taken them very seriously," he said.
The Law Commission report advocated reducing the drink drive tolerance but Power said that while the government has not ruled that out in the long term, it is still being researched.
"This package has a target around young people and I think it's a very good place to start," said Power.
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