A Supreme Court decision last week will strengthen the ability of local councils across the country to set their own rules on the hours of trade for alcohol sales, says Napier City Councillor Maxine Boag.

In the past this has been bone of contention in the Napier-Hastings joint Local Alcohol Policy (LAP), the purpose of which was to reduce alcohol-related harm, she said.  

The Supreme Court decision dismissed the Judicial Review proceedings filed by supermarket duopoly Foodstuffs (which owns Pak n’ Save and New World supermarket chains) and Woolworths (the Australian owners of Countdown supermarkets). The applicants challenged the 2017 decision by The Alcohol and Regulatory Licensing Authority to uphold Auckland City Council’s LAP, delaying the implementation of Auckland’s Local Alcohol Policy for eight years.

A statement from Alcohol Healthwatch after the decision stated that LAPs were aimed at giving communities a greater say on local decision-making on alcohol licensing.

“The two supermarket chains Woolworths and Foodstuffs have kept Auckland’s Local Alcohol Policy tied up in litigation since it was publicly notified in 2015,” the statement said.

And yet 71% of submitters during Auckland’s public consultation supported supermarket hours being the same as other off-licences.

Alcohol Healthwatch Acting Executive Director Rebecca Williams said that while there was evidence linking reduced trading hours for alcohol sales and a reduction in related harm, only 35% of the country was covered by an LAP because many larger cities had abandoned them under threat of continued legal action.

Boag said the current law allowed appeals by third parties against council’s LAP, leading to the threat of costly legal action and creating a deterrent for councils to stand up to the commercial interests that want longer hours of alcohol sales.

“Here in Napier and Hastings the threat of an appeal caused a three-year delay in the adoption of an LAP, agreed on by both councils and the community, until the proposed hours of sale were extended as the supermarkets wanted.

“This Supreme Court decision has strengthened the power of local councils, in consultation with their communities, to set their own rules on hours of trade, which was a bone of contention here in the Napier-Hastings joint LAP.”

The timing coincides with The Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Community Participation) Bill currently before the Justice Select Committee, which seeks to repeal the ability to appeal LAPs.

Boag said if passed, it should result in greater respect for community preferences and a more streamlined process for LAP adoption.

“Never again should councils have to wait years before their LAP becomes operative.”

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