Publican slams drink vote

Hospitality Association vice-president and Rotorua publican Reg Hennessy is disappointed Parliament has voted to keep the alcohol purchasing age at 18.

"They should have run with the split age to stop people from preloading and being binged out of their heads with cheap alcohol from supermarkets and cheap RTDs from wholesalers," Mr Hennessy said.

On Thursday night, MPs were given the options of voting to keep the alcohol purchasing age at 18, to raise it to 20, or have a split age of 18 to drink in a bar or restaurant and 20 to buy alcohol in an off-licence store.

After a rowdy two-hour debate, the Government proposal to split the age was eliminated in the first round of voting. In a second round, the 18 option won 68 votes and the 20 option won 53.

Rotorua MP Todd McClay, Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell, East Coast MP Anne Tolley and Bay of Plenty MP Tony Ryall all voted to raise the age to 20.

Mr McClay said while he believed the decision to keep the age at 18 was wrong, there were a number of other measures that could be implemented to limit alcohol harm.

"I am disappointed. However, this was one of a number of measures in the legislation to reduce alcohol harm, which we will have the opportunity to discuss and vote on in the coming weeks.

"The most important is giving the community of Rotorua a greater say in the number of outlets and where those outlets will be situated ..."

He said another important change was making parents more responsible for their under-aged teens' drinking.