Latest / Best of Business / Sam MacKinnon: Hospitality NZ Head of Communications and Advocacy on the Government's changes to alcohol laws

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Sam MacKinnon: Hospitality NZ Head of Communications and Advocacy on the Government's changes to alcohol laws · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk Z'B. Follow this
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  Speaker 2: So the government has proposed a raft of changes to
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  Speaker 2: alcohol laws. The changes would include limits on who can
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  Speaker 2: object to license applications, provide more certainty for licensed renewals,
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  Speaker 2: allow clubs and some restaurants great afflexibility in serving or
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  Speaker 2: selling alcohol, and make it easier to host events serving
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  Speaker 2: booze as well. Joining us now is Sam McKinnon. He
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  Speaker 2: is head of Advocacy for Hospitality in New Zealand. Sam,
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  Speaker 2: very good afternoon to.
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  Speaker 3: You, Thank Cura. Good afternoon guys.
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  Speaker 4: What in this bill will actually make life easier in
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  Speaker 4: hospo day to day? Sam?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think obviously some of the broader
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  Speaker 3: licensing renewal process stuff improves the certainty for license holders
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  Speaker 3: as they're heading into renewal time. But in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the day to day's stuff, I think the zero alcohol
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  Speaker 3: product provisions are especially helpful. So currently you have to
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  Speaker 3: provide low alcohol beverages which of your mid strength two
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  Speaker 3: and a half percent, and you have to provide no
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  Speaker 3: alcohol beverages, so your soft drinks and water, but zero
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  Speaker 3: percent beer kind of falls into that gray area, I guess.
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  Speaker 3: And so the new rules mean that you'll be able
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  Speaker 3: to serve your zero percent and satisfy that low alcohol
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  Speaker 3: provision product. And obviously we know that that's become a
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  Speaker 3: massive consumer trend.
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  Speaker 4: How big is that become? Just on a side topic,
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  Speaker 4: because I'll I'll buy zero zero.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look I don't I don't have the exact figures
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  Speaker 3: in front of me, but yeah, I mean, look, it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't take very long to work out that it's become
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  Speaker 3: a massive growth segment for the for the for the
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  Speaker 3: beer market. You know, consumers are asking for it a
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  Speaker 3: lot more. There's certainly a lot more selection in supermarkets
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  Speaker 3: and in venues than there was even sort of two
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  Speaker 3: three years ago. So yeah, a big one for us.
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  Speaker 4: Do you like the idea of restaurants being able to
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  Speaker 4: sell takeaway alcohol?
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  Speaker 3: I think I think that's more tidying up some of
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  Speaker 3: those some of those restaurants where they might have a
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  Speaker 3: retail shop attached, And so depending on your layout of
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  Speaker 3: your venue or the hours that you have for your
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  Speaker 3: for your off license, you might have to have that
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  Speaker 3: retail part of your business shut while people are finishing
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  Speaker 3: their dinner in the restaurant, and so it's enabling a
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  Speaker 3: bit more of that sort of flexibility. You're already purchasing
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  Speaker 3: from someone who's been through a license process, and so
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  Speaker 3: why wouldn't you be able to also take some wine
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  Speaker 3: home if that's what you're choosing to do after your meal.
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  Speaker 4: Is that going to be for vineyards with restaurants in
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  Speaker 4: them and such?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know there's also the likes of Mediterranean
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  Speaker 3: Food Warehouse and some of those other sort of boutique
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  Speaker 3: they kind of have that deli model alongside the sort
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  Speaker 3: of restaurant side of things, and they'll have wines available
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  Speaker 3: and you can either drink those on premise or you
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  Speaker 3: should be able to take those home as well afterwards.
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  Speaker 2: We are speaking to Hospitality New Zealand head of Advocacy
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  Speaker 2: Sam McKinnon. So just on the license applications. So this
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  Speaker 2: will change those who can object to a license application
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  Speaker 2: they have to live or work in the same council
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  Speaker 2: area or live within one k of their premises. That
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  Speaker 2: makes a whole lot of sense. So how many objections
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  Speaker 2: were hospitality or premises getting from people outside of where
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  Speaker 2: they actually operate from? That was that a big issue?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? So I guess a lot of these changes are
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  Speaker 3: rebalancing previous changes to the Salance Fly Alcohol Act and
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  Speaker 3: the way that the licensing system worked, And so previous
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  Speaker 3: changes did broaden out who could object, so anyone could
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  Speaker 3: object from anywhere, and we did have members who felt
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  Speaker 3: that they were getting vexatious objections through their process. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you could be a country pub in Otago and no
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  Speaker 3: one in your local area has any issue with the
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  Speaker 3: way that you're operating, but you have a set of
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  Speaker 3: objections coming out of Auckland on the basis of not
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  Speaker 3: liking anyone selling alcohol rather than a specific issue with
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  Speaker 3: the license holder. And so if you have public objections,
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  Speaker 3: that generally ends up in you ending up in a
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  Speaker 3: hearing in front of your district licensing committee and make
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  Speaker 3: the decision over whether or not you should be able
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  Speaker 3: to sell alcohol. And that obviously adds significant time and
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  Speaker 3: money and uncertainty into the licensing process for venues. So
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  Speaker 3: tightening that up so that the objectives actually have an
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  Speaker 3: interest in the local community where the venue is operating
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  Speaker 3: makes a lot of sense.
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  Speaker 4: Does this do anything to change the balance towards drinking
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  Speaker 4: in bars and restaurants over buying from the supermarket and
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  Speaker 4: bottle store and taking both home because it seems to
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  Speaker 4: me that's what we want to happen, that we would
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  Speaker 4: prefer people were drinking more in restaurants and bars where
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  Speaker 4: they are, you know, where they're being looked after and
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  Speaker 4: people are being employed. Does it do anything to balance
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  Speaker 4: that out?
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  Speaker 3: No? I mean, look, when it's dealing with the licensing
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  Speaker 3: system as a whole, that that applies to off license,
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  Speaker 3: so your bottle shops and your supermarkets, as well as
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  Speaker 3: it does to onlinense, so your traditional hospo venues. So
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  Speaker 3: I guess in terms of the certainty that it provides
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  Speaker 3: for our for our membership, and for bars and cafes
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  Speaker 3: in general, that's improved. But it doesn't do anything to
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  Speaker 3: move where you would choose to consume your alcohol. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't. It doesn't. None of these changes necessarily push
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  Speaker 3: people towards on premise consumption. But they are changes that
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  Speaker 3: we're happy with in terms of making life easier for
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  Speaker 3: the day to day operation of a venue.
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  Speaker 4: Is there anything else you'd like to see them do
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  Speaker 4: as the areas that have been missed in this bill
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  Speaker 4: that you think need addressing.
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  Speaker 3: I think in terms of the bill itself. There are
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  Speaker 3: obviously there's a pretty broad ranging set of things that
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  Speaker 3: the bill's looking to amend and I guess tidy up
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  Speaker 3: some unclear areas within the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
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  Speaker 3: For us, we're quite keen on seeing a reduction in
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  Speaker 3: excise tax on key, specifically as a measure that would
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  Speaker 3: drive more consumption on premise and obviously support the on
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  Speaker 3: premise environment. So that's this bill wouldn't be the right
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  Speaker 3: place to do that. But you know, in terms of
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  Speaker 3: something that would we think would move the dial towards
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  Speaker 3: changing where people choose to consume alcohol, that would be
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  Speaker 3: that would be the sort of big ticket item if
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  Speaker 3: we could have that discussion.
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  Speaker 4: Is anyone floating that kind of idea? Is there any
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  Speaker 4: political capital in that area at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: Well, if anyone, anyone in general is floating it, obviously
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  Speaker 3: Hospitality New Zealanders, along with some of our the Brewers
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  Speaker 3: Guild who represent the small craft brewers.
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  Speaker 4: Sorry I said that wrong, as anyone obviously you guys
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  Speaker 4: should float. Anyone noticing that floating and looking to come
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  Speaker 4: in from from the government.
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  Speaker 3: To help, Yeah, I mean we're obviously having that discussion
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  Speaker 3: with anyone who. We haven't had any political commitments just yet,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, obviously something that we see as having
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  Speaker 3: some meaningful impact for venues but are relatively low impact
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  Speaker 3: change for the government to make to be able to
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  Speaker 3: signal their support for the sector.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, interesting stuff. Sam. Thank you very much for having
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  Speaker 2: to catch up with us and analyzing that. Really appreciate
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  Speaker 2: your time.
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  Speaker 3: You have a good afternoon you too, Thanks very much.
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  Speaker 2: That is Hospitality New Zealand Head of Advocacy Sam McKinnon.
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