Craig Cooper: DHB liquor opposition is inconsistent

Whakatu community leader Des Ratima (left), Hastings councillor for Flaxmere Henare O'Keefe and Flaxmere Christian Fellowship Pastor Nigel Woodley opposed a Flaxmere liquor store's licence renewal.

In November 2018, Port Ahuriri School held a Food and Music Festival.

For at least a decade, it had been a Wine and Food Festival.

But the school succumbed to what it claimed was "institutional bullying" from the Hawke's Bay District Health Board and did not seek a liquor licence.

The DHB denied bullying the school and justified sending pages (700 pages, the school reckoned) of correspondence, as it contained new evidence about the dangers of exposing children to alcohol.

August 2019 and the DHB has not opposed the June renewal of a liquor licence for Flaxmere Liquor, which is being targeted by its local district councillor Henare O'Keefe who is sick of "picking up the pieces" from alcohol-related incidents in his community.

The DHB's medical officer of health, Rachel Eyre, this week said consideration was given to opposing the renewal but "matters around general health harm were not enough" to oppose a renewal for a compliant retailer.

"As medical officer of health I have to have reasonably strong grounds for opposition. If we opposed every renewal in high deprivation areas in Hawke's Bay that's all we would do."

The DHB instead focuses on new licence applications or "applications where there are specific premise or operator concerns, which would likely attract opposition from other agencies as well".

It's interesting that the DHB opposed a one-off licence — an annual renewal, you could argue — for Port Ahuriri School because of potential harm to its 265 students, but can't find anything to say about the Flaxmere renewal.

Which is worse? Two hundred and sixty-five kids in a low deprivation area exposed to a bar on the school grounds for one night of the year, or 2000-odd students at Flaxmere's various schools exposed to booze in the community all year round potentially?

Perhaps there is still time for the DHB to chip in.

Takitimu District Māori Council chairman Des Ratima is standing next to O'Keefe as they head to the High Court opposing an odd decision by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority in June.

The authority renewed the licence until September 25, 2021, on its existing conditions, despite the store's owners offering to reduce their opening hours. The offer to reduce the hours wasn't taken up.

Surely reducing the stores hours is something the DHB would support.

It would also be interesting to hear why the view of two kaumātua doesn't carry as much weight as the opposition of "other agencies".

It smacks of dated, institutionalised liquor licence rules that are no longer fit for purpose, and fails to recognise the damage that alcohol does to our communities.