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Whariki

Drinking/Trading Hours

An end to 24 hour licences

• The Alcohol & Public Health Research Unit opposes 24 hour licences for the sale of alcohol on the grounds that:
  1. Police report that intoxicated persons are still on the roads at times when the majority of people are driving to work and children are going to school, as well as disproportionate increases in late night street disorder with longer hours of drinking (Hill & Stewart 1996).
  2. Early morning closure imposes a break in continuous binge drinking.
  3. There has been considerable opposition by communities to very late hours of trading, because of, or in anticipation of, an increase in street disorder and vandalism in the early hours of the morning. This has been expressed through attempts to oppose individual licences and renewals, and to establish early closing times through planning permits, Council policy or establishing the sale of liquor as a conditional land use in District Plans (Hill & Stewart 1996).
• The Liquor Licensing Authority now appears to have moved away from granting 24 hour trading hours towards astandard practice of granting trading hours until 3 am in urban areas. A closing time of 11 pm in residential areas is usually set in District Plans, under which planning consents are obtained prior to licence applications.

Standard hours with extension permits

• Research on other countries comparable to New Zealand has found that all set standard licensing hours in their legislation, granting licensing authorities the power to extend these hours on application. This is already the situation in New Zealand on particular occasions. Licensees may apply to the District Licensing Agency for a 'special occasions' permit to stay open for a special occasion or function beyond the hours endorsed on their licence.
• In other counties, extended hours permits are regarded as a privilege and are deliberately made more discretionary and easier to remove if unsatisfactory situations arise. A similar disciplinary practice has developed in New Zealand through decisions of the Licensing Authority cutting back the closing times of poorly managed premises. The Alcohol & Public Health Research Unit recommends that this be facilitated by the legislation itself through the above amendments.

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