Tuesday 29 January 2019

Reader mailbag - Licensing trusts edition

Karl du Fresne had a great 2017 story on New Zealand's anachronistic alcohol licensing trusts.

The West Auckland trust is coming under a bit of pressure from a residents' group that would like to see things opened up, removing the trust's monopoly.

TrustAction's Nick Smale writes to let me know what they've been up to:
I believe most of the licensing trusts' public support results from misinformation and misunderstanding. I've been surprised and disappointed with the actions of both our licensing trusts and our local public health service (ARPHS) in informing the public. For example, the Advertising Standards Authority recently found against The Trusts for making claims about alcohol related crashes. Also attached is a flyer published by the ARPHS which I think is effectively campaigning on behalf of The Trusts.

As a group of non-expert residents advocating for change, we feel somewhat overwhelmed by the public resource being used to support the status quo.
The Auckland Regional Public Health Service has been campaigning to keep the trust, at least according to their flyer Nick passes along.


For those of you living in West Auckland, here's the petition against the Trust's monopoly

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