Docs told of disappointing alcohol reform
The New Zealand government missed an opportunity to make a real difference with alcohol law reform, a gathering of Australian and New Zealand doctors has been told.
There are 1000 alcohol-related deaths in New Zealand each year and 700,000 Kiwis binge drink, Dr Geoff Robinson told his colleagues at The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) convention in Auckland on Monday.
The college is embarking on an alcohol policy for Australia, which is looking towards reviewing liquor legislation, and he wanted to share New Zealand's experience, said Dr Robinson, the Capital and Coast District Health Board chief medical officer.
"Although the Alcohol Reform Bill adopted two-thirds of the Law Commission's recommendations, including trading hours and outlet density, it disappointingly rejected many of the important recommendations including a 50 per cent increase in excise tax rates and a minimum purchase age of 20."
The Law Commission report was "excellent" and the government should have adopted all its recommendations, Dr Robinson said.
The ones it did adopt in the 2012 bill, including restricting opening hours, would not have a major impact on alcohol use, he said.
"I think there's political timidity, and the reasons for that lie around votes and lie around the influence of the alcohol industry, which I believe is very significant," he told NZ Newswire later on Monday.
If alcohol was a new drug it would be scheduled as a class B drug as it does the most harm to others, such as fights, assaults, car accidents, Dr Robinson said.
"It's not alcohol itself, it's alcohol intoxication. It's not two drinks - it's binge drinking of six drinks or more."
Politically there was a big difference between tobacco and alcohol, Dr Robinson said.
Some of that was due to the perceived benefits from alcohol, including employment and preventing heart disease in low doses, he said.
"I think it's really important that alcohol control is kept on the political agenda and it's not something we look at every 30 years."
The RACP conference, which looks at critical health-care issues facing New Zealand and Australia, runs until Wednesday.
