Use Delay To Repel Prohibitionism

News that the Government’s alcohol reforms may not pass before the election should be celebrated rather than lamented, says ACT New Zealand Youth Affairs Spokesman Hon Heather Roy.

The select committee considering the reforms says it needs more time.

“There’s been a lot of grandstanding among the other parties, whose default position is one of authoritarian, Big-Brother-knows-best kill-joy-ism,” Mrs Roy observes. “The fact that there’s a clamour from the usual suspects for more laws, more restrictions and higher prices doesn’t mean the select committee should succumb to that clamour.

“Recent tragedies do not justify prohibitionist knee-jerking. The proposed changes, had they been in effect, would not have prevented these heart-breaking events.

“I for one will be voting against splitting the alcohol-buying age between 18 for bars and 20 for off-licences if that survives the select committee’s deliberations. It is insulting and absurd to tell 18-year-olds they can be trusted to vote but not to purchase alcohol from supermarkets.

“ACT stands for individual freedom, whose flip-side is personal responsibility. It is the inculcation of that ethic into the culture, rather than the heavy hand of government, that will enable us to better counter the problem of irresponsible drinking. I hope, in its extended deliberations, the select committee takes that into account,” Mrs Roy concludes.