Young have mixed views on age change

Auckland bar manager Nicola Reid, 20, thinks reform would be helpful to stop younger customers misbehaving. Photo / Richard Robinson

There are mixed views about the proposed raising of the alcohol buying age from 18 to 20.

The proposed move - as part of several recommendations made by the Law Commission yesterday - is unlikely to happen.

However those in and around Auckland City last night were both supportive and sceptical.

Many younger punters said they agreed that the alcohol purchasing age needed to be raised; while others said that changing the drinking age would not make much of a difference.

One Auckland City bar manager, Nicola Reid, said she had seen first-hand the "silly" behaviour that came with younger drinkers.

"We get a lot of 18-year-olds and around the 19 to 20 years [age group]. They do start to get a little bit silly, trying to reach over the counter to turn on the tap and there've been lots of fights," Miss Reid said.

"I think raising it to 20 would be good."

Danielle Pentecost, 19, agreed that the drinking age was "a bit too young".

"I don't have anything against [raising] it. It's all the young people that abuse alcohol [consumption] - there's lots of 14 and 16-year-olds who get in to bars and things," she said. "But at the same time, I've seen 40-year-olds abusing it as well."

Other people moved away from the raising of the age, saying the main problem that needed to be addressed was the drinking culture problem.

Ben Stuart, 23, said he did not particularly believe that raising the alcohol purchasing age to 20 would make a difference. Mr Stuart said the drinking culture among not only youngsters but society as a whole needed to be addressed.

"I've noticed that over here and in Australia, it's pretty full on," he said. "Of course it's like that overseas too, but [drinking] is more controlled overseas, rather than over here."

One woman in her 40s, who would only identify herself as Rachel, said she was not confident that putting the age back to 20 would change the drinking culture among young people.

She said alcohol was "too widely available".

"Look around you, it's almost at every dairy," she said. "You walk into a supermarket and the first thing you see is alcohol; it's right there, it's even before the fruit! Eighteen is probably okay, I just think it's the drinking culture that needs addressing."