Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sam MacKinnon: Hospitality NZ Head of Advocacy on the proposed changes to alcohol laws

Transcript

Sam MacKinnon: Hospitality NZ Head of Advocacy on the proposed changes to alcohol laws · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: HOSPO and Z says, don't stop there. This is the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: government looks to loosen booze laws. Introduced a bill to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: stop serial Karens from blocking new pubs and bars. Only
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: locals in the same council area can now object to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a liquor license. Previously, any old man and his dog
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: could do it. Sam McKinnon Hospitality and zhead of Acuracy
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: with us this morning. Morning Sam, Good morning Ryan, thanks
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: having good to have you. Is this a game changer
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: for the licensing rules?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think we would characterize it as
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: a rebalancing. A number of changes were made a few
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: years ago that changed the way that the licensing process
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: worked and from our view that certainly led to some
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: vexatious objections. So, as you've noted, you could be a
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: country pub in Otago and have no local objections known
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: in your local community has any issues with the way
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: that you're running your bar or your pub. But you
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: could have a series of objections from Auckland and that
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: holds up the process generally pushes you into a public hearing.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: So changing some of those rules will certainly have an
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: impact for a number of our members.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: So how many of the applications get declined, but solely
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: on the basis that someone who didn't live near the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: venue complained or is this more about Once that happens,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: it triggers the lengthy and costly process to begin with.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's not generally that they get declined, but
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: if you don't have any public objections, then you can
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: just have your decision made without having to go to
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: a hearing. So you know, it's adding time and certainly
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: cost into the licensing process. So I guess that's what
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: we're hoping that these rules will change, along with some
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: of the changes around right of reply and new local
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: alcohol policy rules not impacting existing licenses, So all positive
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: steps in the right direction.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: What's changing with the zero bears?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so currently zero percent bears have fallen into a
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: bit of a gray area. So you've got provisions in
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act around serving zero
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: non alcoholic beverages which covers water and juice and soft drinks,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: and then provisions around needing to serve low alcohol beverages
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: which are your sort of mid strength piers, and your
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: zero percent piers wouldn't satisfy. You can't serve that as
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: a as a soft drink, but you also couldn't serve
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that as a low alcohol per So it's kind of
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: resolving that challenge that makes Obviously, consumer preferences have moved
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: much much further down that direction of or zero alcohol
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: beer versus a mid strength two and a half percent
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: per so a lot of our members are purchasing that
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: product solely to satisfy the condition rather than because that's
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: what the customer wants.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Sam the excise on kegs, is that any different to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the excise that we pay just generally on beer.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Well, it's part of the component of what you pay.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: The tax that you pay on beer. It is the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: largest chunk of texts that you pay on beer. But
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: obviously we combined with GST, we're pushing about fifty percent
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: of tax that you pay on a keg is now sorry,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: fifty percent of the price that you pay on a
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: keg is now tax. So yes, it's the primary component
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: that you paying.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: What do you think it should be, Well, we'd like.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: To see a fifty percent reduction on keig tax to
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: support the sector. So you're currently your tax aren't exercised.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Tax isn't differentiated between packaged bear or keg Bear, and
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: so we'd like to see a differentiation on on Keig
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Bear and then have that that tax reduced. We think
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: that will support local communities, support the brewing sectors, support
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: ourselves obviously as businesses in communities up and down the country,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: and enable more of that sort of viability for your business.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Sam, appreciate your time this morning, Sam McKinnon, Hospitality and Z.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: For more from Earlily Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:50
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• 3:53
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