I am a Manukau City resident and this issue is one that I think many Manukau residents feel strongly about. The issue of off-licence liquor outlets has driven Manukau residents to protesting on the streets as they did last year in Clendon. Driving down some of Manukau’s poorest neighbourhoods and you will see alcohol stores located next to dairies and other alcohol stores. The question that normally comes to my mind is why would a neighbourhood need so many Alcohol stores?
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| Source: Pacificeyewitness, 2011. Manukau residents march out against new alcohol stores in their communities. |
The Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand released a report in 2010 titled “The Impacts of Liquor Outlets in Manukau City”. The findings are extremely concerning. It found that “in Manukau City, off-licence liquor outlets tend to be located in areas of high social deprivation and high population density” (Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand, 2011). I think it could be said that Alcohol stores in Manukau only worsen the social conditions in many of these highly deprived areas. Alcohol’s social costs are widely known and are being experienced by Manukau’s most socially excluded.
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| Source: Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand, 2010 The most deprived areas are in the grey/black the pink dots are the liquor stores as you can see most of them are in the grey/black areas of Manukau. |
I think that regulations and laws around granting off-licences to liquor stores should be toughed up. The location of the store should be taken into account and the existence of other off-licence liquor stores should also influence whether or not a license is granted. While the Council has tools that could be used to stop off-licences being granted such as the District Plan, they are not strong enough to keep the numbers of off-licences for liquor outlets low in Manukau. The effects of Alcohol abuse is damaging not only to the individual consuming it but also to their family, community and the rest of the nation. Placing off-licence liquor stores in areas where social problems already exist adds fuel to the fire.
The new Auckland Council should regularly monitor the number of off-licence liquor outlets and map out their location. They can build on the research that the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand has already established. Auckland Council needs to do this because if they do not the social cost in the long term will be significant on the rest of the Auckland region. Without early intervention and monitoring ratepayers will end up paying the bill for alcohol externalities.
The most deprived Manukau communities are the most vulnerable to the temptations of cheap liquor sold it through these off-licence liquor outlets. Those in positions of power especially local authority have legal obligations to care for these communities’ well-beings. One way of doing this is to stop granting off-licences to stores wanting to locate in these communities. This will reduce the sources of cheap alcohol in the community. By acknowledging, working and helping Auckland’s most deprived Auckland will start to head towards its goal of becoming a global city because we are only as strong as our weakness link.
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