Nowhere in the Bible does it say 'thou shalt not drink on Good Friday and Easter Sunday'. That is just one of many arguments Labour's Kieran McAnulty, a practising Catholic, is making to do away with some of the Easter trading laws
MP for Wairarapa and former TAB bookie Kieran McAnulty has no idea whether he’ll get the support needed to get his member’s bill straight onto the order paper to be debated in Parliament, but says the current restrictions on sale and supply of alcohol are a nonsense.
McAnulty wants to remove default restrictions preventing licensed businesses already permitted to open on Anzac Day morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day from selling alcohol as they do any other day of the year.
He isn’t going near the wider trading laws that prevent supermarkets and bottle stores from selling alcohol on those days but also makes an argument those laws are simply feeding into the country’s “binge-drinking culture’’.
McAnulty says his bill will “change rules that currently encourage stockpiling of booze and encourages drinking of alcohol within a prescribed timeframe’’.
“Those are both issues that encourage binge-drinking, and what I’d like to see is a clarification of the rules to allow hospitality staff to actually focus on watching what people are doing when they’re drinking, not watching how much they’re eating, which is actually where we are at the moment.’’
That’s because as the rules stand, licensed businesses can only sell alcohol to customers who are having a meal.
Explained simply, McAnulty says it stops someone ordering a bowl of chips at a pub from having a pint, but allows someone having a piece of fish with their chips to enjoy a beer.
He’s hoping to make use of a new rule in Parliament that’s yet to be used, which allows a member’s bill to skip the ballot and be introduced to the House if it gets the support of 61 MPs in Parliament, excluding members of the executive.
National’s justice spokesperson Simon Bridges isn’t so convinced his party will get on board with this approach though given Labour has a majority in Parliament and could pass the bill as legislation on its own if it deemed it so important.
“It’s got to be a high threshold to skip the ballot before we’d even remotely consider doing that,’’ he told Newsroom.
The member’s bill will go to National’s caucus on Tuesday and a vote will be taken on whether it’s treated as a conscience issue or not.
Former leader and MP for Bay of Plenty Todd Muller has already made his views known, as a self-professed “conservative on these sorts of things’’.
“I think it’s quite good there’s a couple of days a year where it’s quite constrained in terms of trading and selling alcohol on those days so I’d need to be convinced over the merits of any change’.’
Asked whether he bought into McAnulty’s argument that Kiwis stockpile alcohol the days before Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Muller laughed at the suggestion.
“People buy alcohol when they want to buy alcohol, I don’t think that’s much of a driver at all.’’
“Do we binge on Christmas Day? Well, maybe we do on Christmas pudding, but I’m not sure about the alcohol bit.’’
His Tauranga colleague Bridges is also a “church-goer’’ but says he’s voted for “rationalisation on these issues in the past” and is open to the bill.
McAnulty is pitching the change as one that should treat alcohol restrictions on the basis of a health issue, not a religious holiday.
“Every other day of the year we have restrictions in place that ensure people drink responsibly. If we want to have a look at the availability of alcohol and the restrictions on that from a health perspective, then let’s do that, but let’s not have restrictions on the basis of a religious holiday’’.
Director-General of Health Doctor Ashley Bloomfield says the trading laws aren’t something he has formally been asked to provide the government public health advice on
“I do think the issue of availability is of course one of the considerations around preventing harmful use of alcohol and the harm that can result from alcohol abuse,’’ he says.
Standing next to Bloomfield while he delivered those comments was Associate Minister for Māori Health, Peeni Henare, who was more frank in his views.
Asked whether he was comfortable with alcohol being more freely available than it currently is on all 365 days of the year, Henare told Newsroom, “no’’.
He says he’s well aware of the impacts alcohol has on Māori communities, in particular rates of diabetes, “and I know if we don’t treat this as a health issue then those other matters like diabetes won’t be helped’’.
McAnulty says he respects his “colleague and mate’s comments’’ but he also disagrees with them.
“The law at the moment encourages stock-piling of alcohol. On Holy Thursday and Easter Saturday (when supermarkets and bottle stores can sell alcohol) there are lines of trollies at the supermarket chock-a-block with booze because they can’t buy it the next day.’’
A big seal of approval for his bill could be getting the Prime Minister on side but like many of the Labour MPs, she too is keeping her cards close to her chest.
“We had a good discussion and the view is that it will be a conscience vote. I want to spend a bit of time reading the bill myself before making a call,’’ she says.
Rotorua-based Labour MP Tamati Coffey is a restaurant and bar owner and says he welcomes any kind of “expanding or relaxing of rules around Easter trading laws’’.
But most other Labour MPs stopped and quizzed by Newsroom said they wanted to look at the bill more closely before making a decision.
Te Paati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi is a Christian and says Easter and Christmas are sacred parts of the year.
But in saying that he says in the “time of Covid” some relaxing could be warranted.
“If there’s some kind of economic gain to those who have businesses and want to trade then I think that’s all good,’’ he told Newsroom.
McAnulty has made no secret of his religious beliefs, saying he’s a Catholic who attends mass at Easter and Christmas.
But he says that should have nothing to do with the changes he’s trying to make for business owners.
“I’m not aware of the Christian teaching that says, Thou shalt not drink on Good Friday or Easter Sunday'.
“I went to mass on Easter Sunday and if I wanted to have a pint with my family afterwards I should be able to,’’ he says.
The Greens and the ACT Party are yet to reveal whether they’ll support McAnulty’s bid to fast-track the bill into the House.
McAnulty will be formally writing to all political parties seeking their support to do just that.
If he can’t get the 61 non-executive member votes he requires then it will be back to the biscuit tin where the bill could sit waiting to be drawn for years to come.
