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The Prime Minister's call for tighter controls on liquor outlets is gathering support.
Helen Clark wants to crack down on the number of liquor outlets in poor areas of New Zealand in the wake of killings and robberies that have shocked the country.
She said yesterday that she wanted Parliament to revisit liquor laws to cut the number of liquor outlets.
The police had a "grave concern" about the role of alcohol consumption in violent offending in the area.
The Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) said today communities needed to have a say in the number and location of outlets in their areas.
"This is the strong message we have been getting from communities throughout the country," said Alac chief executive Gerard Vaughan.
"The Sale of Liquor Act is now almost 20 years old. In that time the environment has changed dramatically."
Mr Vaughan said Alac wanted any legislative changes to also address factors contributing to binge drinking, such as cheap liquor and outlet opening hours.
Alcohol Healthwatch said it supported Helen Clark's call but wanted a more urgent response.
"Communities have been calling for the mandate to influence licensing decisions since they lost that right in the 1989 changes to the Sale of Liquor Act," said director Rebecca Williams.
She also said changes should cover a wider range of issues, including advertising and pricing controls.
The Drug Foundation praised Helen Clark for giving a kickstart to a stalled review process.
"There is great community concern about the social impact of alcohol but communities find themselves unable to make objections as there are limited grounds on which objections to a licence can be made," said the foundation's executive director Ross Bell.
"Improving liquor licensing laws along with addressing cheap booze and liberal marketing practices will go a long way to turning around New Zealand's poor drinking culture."
"This is a matter I am personally taking extremely seriously," Helen Clark said last night.
"It seems to me inevitable that Parliament will have to revisit some of the consequences of the 1989 liquor legislation."
There has been a 1250 per cent jump in licences across the country since the legislation came into force.
MPs could look at liquor legislation as early as today if Parliament gives Manurewa MP George Hawkins leave to introduce a bill he has already drafted.
No consideration is given at present to the number of other liquor outlets when applications are made or to the social effects.
Figures from Statistics NZ show that in 2006 Manukau City had one off-licensed premise for every 1778 people compared to one for every 942 in Christchurch.
Some 270 businesses sold alcohol in Manukau- up from 44 in 1990.
In 2007, some 100 youths led a hikoi through the Clendon area, in protest at the number of liquor outlets opening and operating in the local area.
The Auckland District Licensing Authority, Tamaki Community Board, Eden Albert Community Board and Mt Roskill Community Board have all indicated support for wholesale changes to the law.
Manukau City Council Mayor Len Brown has this year been trying to win backing for Mr Hawkins' bill.
The bill requires a satisfactory social impact assessment before a liquor sale licence could be granted, it would widen criteria for objections and those allowed to object to licences.
Mr Hawkins' bill would almost certainly not be passed before the election, which has to be held before mid-November, but could be a vehicle for other measures to be considered.
Mr Hawkins has taken a special interest in liquor outlets in his area, which has featured among some of the grimmest crimes this year.
In the latest killing, Navtej Singh was shot in his liquor store in Manurewa last week, the second killing in a shop in the area this year. In January, 15-year-old Krishna Naidu was fatally stabbed in his parents' dairy.
An 80-year-old woman, Yang Yin Ping, died at the weekend after being attacked in her home, and a young tagger, Pihema Clifford Cameron, was killed in January.
Helen Clark said yesterday that when the liquor laws were passed in 1989, Parliament had not imagined alcohol would be so freely available.
Since 1989 the number of licensed premises in New Zealand had risen from 6295 to 14,970 today.
"Density appears to be highest in some of the most deprived communities in our country."
She said advice from the police was that violent crime was related to the prevalence of liquor outlets.
"Ideally what we need is the numbers coming down," she said.
Among the measures that could be considered was giving territorial authorities the right to cap the number of liquor outlets and specify locations, widening the criteria for objection and allowing any affected party or member of the public to object, and extending the trial of the Pacific Patrol being piloted in Mt Roskill - similar to the Maori Wardens.
She said that the Liquor Licensing Authority commented recently that the 1989 act essentially legislated for a free market for liquor outlets.
"And this, the police are advising us, is a matter for considerable concern to us."
Asked if armed police were an option, Helen Clark said: "My understanding is they are not routinely asking for that power at all but they would like in due course to present a graduated range of option."
"One of the problems of even considering routinely arming police on the beat is that you up the stakes for criminals. You could be looking at more LA style shoot-outs with gangsters."
Helen Clark last night won support from Manukau City Councillors for her call to cap liquor outlet numbers.
Acting Manukau mayor Gary Troup said the fact that the MDLA was effectively powerless to address concerns such as proposed site suitability or the increase in criminal or anti-social behaviour was "a song sheet we've been singing off for a long time".
He said mayor Len Brown had met with political parties across the spectrum this year to discuss the issue but given Mr Singh's death, there was an "urgent" need for politicians to act.
Manurewa Councillor Colleen Brown said while she backed a call to action, she wanted to correct a "perception" that there had been an "explosion" of liquor outlets in her ward. With 34 outlets that wasn't the case, she said.
Councillor Brown said while there was an option for the council to make changes to its District Plan which could give it greater control over outlets, that change could potentially take two years, she said.
That wasn't good enough. "There would be huge objections and we'd end up in the Environment Court.
"That would cost a huge amount of ratepayers money. We need something done now.
"We as a council need to have more teeth in how we can stop liquor stores opening in areas that we feel are not suitable."
THE PLAN
* Giving councils power to cap the number of liquor outlets.
* Requiring social impact reviews.
* Widening criteria for objections to liquor outlets.
* Letting anybody in the area object.
* Extending Pacific Patrol.
