Latest / Best of Business / Dylan Firth: Brewers' Association Executive Director on what the new Government report on the hospitality sector means for businesses

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Dylan Firth: Brewers' Association Executive Director on what the new Government report on the hospitality sector means for businesses · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
• 0:13
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: The government's received a review into our hospitality laws that's
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: been welcomed by Louise Upston and David Seymour, and it
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: follows along closely to what the proposed ACT Party policies are,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: so they're promising to make it easier to obtain and
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: maintain alcohol licences going forward. So the review says hospitality
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: businesses have to jump through hurdles and red tape to
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: keep their licences secure. and pay high fees for an
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: industry that's already struggling. Talk about this. We've got Executive
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Director of the Brewers Association, Dylan Firth with me.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Hello, Dylan.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Andrew.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: So what will this mean? Is this just for hospitality
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: and restaurants, or will it mean a proliferation of bottle-o's?
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: No, no, I think this is definitely focused on a
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: hospitality review, and that's the idea behind it. There's a
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: number of recommendations in the review that's come out today,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: so we'll have to get our head around it fulsomely.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: But I think there's some great stuff in there for
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  Speaker 3: the industry to reduce some red tape and let them
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: get on with doing their business, which is looking after people.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Well, what has been the challenge and the problems with
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the current system and the current red tape?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I mean, the system was introduced in 2012, 2013,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: when the licensing laws changed after quite some time. And
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  Speaker 3: what happened is a lot of that was devolved to
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  Speaker 3: local councils and district licensing committees. What we've seen is
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  Speaker 3: we've seen inconsistency across the board between these. And also resourcing,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: so smaller councils will be taking longer. You know, you've
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: got some businesses waiting six months to get a license,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: if not a year, to get a renewal. And that's
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: just really difficult for business. You know, all these people
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: want to be doing is providing food and beverages to
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: their customers and their communities.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: But the review also says that if you cut some
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: of these costs and you cut the regulatory cost as well,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: there will still have to be some regulation and that
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: cost will be borne by councils, meaning more costs for councils,
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  Speaker 2: meaning higher rates.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Well, look, I think there's actually still a fee element
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  Speaker 3: to it. So, I mean, what happens at the moment
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  Speaker 3: with any fees, like building consents, is they're partially subsidised
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  Speaker 3: by councils, and this is one of the things. The
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  Speaker 3: recommendations in the report also look at merging some of
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: the district licensing committees or allowing councils to merge where
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: finding efficiencies will enable them to reduce some of their overheads. So, actually,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I think there's cost savings to be had within this.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: The critics also say that cutting the red tape could
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: increase alcohol harm. What do you say to that?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I don't think that's something at all. I mean,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: these are supervised environments. All they're doing is going through
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: a fee process here or a kind of application process.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: It's not necessarily going to change how they serve or
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  Speaker 3: look after their customers. There's strong rules around what you
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: can and can't do in hospitality venues with alcohol. I
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  Speaker 3: don't think this is going to increase alcohol supply or
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  Speaker 3: increase harmful consumption. People are still going out and having
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  Speaker 3: a beer and enjoying themselves. We've got the lowest harmful
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: consumption of alcohol in New Zealand we've ever had. You know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: things are heading in a really good direction. This is
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: just going to enable businesses to get on with doing it.
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  Speaker 2: And will this affect the trusts, you know, like Southland,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: like West Auckland and their operations?
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: It shouldn't do. I mean, they go through licensing processes themselves,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: so they've been using it, so it's very similar. We've
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: definitely seen on a wider aspect of things, businesses being
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: able to get through and do this will mean that
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  Speaker 3: they can just focus on it. It doesn't matter whether
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: they're a trust or an individual cafe who's got a license,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: whether they're a high street bar. It's going to allow
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: these people to just go, right, this is what we
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  Speaker 3: want to do, look after our consumers.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And do you reckon this is going to end up
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: with more hospitality outfits or it's going to mean that
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  Speaker 2: the margins get better for current operators?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I don't think it's going to add some sort
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  Speaker 3: of proliferation. If anything, we're seeing some of the biggest
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: cuts in hospitality we've ever seen. You know, 3,000 venues
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  Speaker 3: stopped trading in the last year, which is 40% up
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  Speaker 3: on the last year. And that's due to kind of
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: the wider economic environment. If there's some costs that can
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  Speaker 3: be reduced by, you know, those businesses that are still around,
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  Speaker 3: that's great. We probably won't see a huge amount more open.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: It just means those who are there and want to
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: be able to do their business can.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Dylan Firth, thank you for your time today. Executive Director
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: of the Brewers Association. It's 11 after five.
• 4:05
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