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Labour still trying to kill fun

by Whaleoil on August 25, 2012

The Labour party just doesn’t know when to stop when it comes to killing people’s fun.

They were run out of office partly because of their nanny-statism. Now they are trying to take popular drinks out of the hands of people because they think they are bad…and because some, a small minority, are dickheads with their drinking.

Labour tables more amendments as Parliament prepares for final reading of contentious legislation

The Labour Party will make a last-ditch attempt to introduce strict limits on the sale of sweetened alcoholic drinks after the National-led Government backed down on its plan to ban high-strength alcopops.

MP Phil Goff has proposed changing alcohol laws to make it illegal to sell RTD (ready to drink) products with more than 5 per cent alcohol content or more than 1.5 standard drinks per bottle.

He said yesterday: “We’ve got a massive problem with teenage binge-drinking. And this stuff is so sweet that it masks the alcohol taste and people drink it like soft drinks. It’s marketed to look like soft drinks.”

He has tabled the amendment as Parliament prepares for the final reading of the bill, which could begin next week.

I don’t believe we have a massive problem with binge drinking at all. And changing the law will simply make them switch drinks, and the drinking will continue regardless.

What is amusing is that this is the second issue in two days, Fiji and now booze, that Phil Goff is making the running on. Is he trying to resurrect his leadership?

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  • http://twitter.com/epyleptiknz pprice

    I turned 50 earlier this month and can remember teen life back in the mid to late ’70s. I recall going out on a Saturday night and clobbering half a crate and then turning to the old staple Coruba and Coke or Southern Comfort and demolishing at least a bottle. If we were broke it’d be flagon of draft and cheap sherry.

    The behaviour is nothing new. Sure the RTDs make it a little easier, but they’ll never get rid of it. As you say Cam, more nanny-statism.

    • Azza

      It wasn’t any different in the 80′s and 90′s either except people had moved away from crates which was a shame. They made good seats while sitting around a bonfire telling lies to your mates.
      But damn those RTD’s are foul drinks. They are sickly sweet I don’t know how anyone can drink them.

      • GregM

        , guest & Monique, Heheheh they were the days! I’m still quite partial to a 4 pack of gin and tonics on a warm afternoon. Why should people like most of us be clobbered because a few dickheads can’t handle the piss.
        The Government did the right thing backing off, despite what the pinko MSM editorials are now full of.
        Time for a beer or 11….

    • http://twitter.com/Orcs2Elves Monique Angel

      Ha ha. We had crate parties in the 90′s; we used to sit on the crates and take the tops off the bottles with a fish slice. Was superseded only by the keg party. Terrible drinkers we were. And as for “sluts”, Colin Craig would have despaired. We learnt to watch our drinking or stop. I don’t imagine today’s dumbass younguns are any different.

  • Andrei

    National is just as bad as Labour in this regard, perhaps even worse – look what they are doing to tobacco.

    Plague on all their houses.

    It is hard too imagine a time when New Zealand’s parliament was filled with such a bunch of empty headed, vapid, mediocre non entities.

    • le sphincter

      Alcohol is a highly regulated product … because why ?

      Those rose tinted glasses forget that as teenagers in the 70s and 80s , when pubs closed at 10pm, they couldnt buy alcohol LEGALLY until they were 21.
      What was that about nanny state ?
      Its surprising how much the grog has affected their memories

      • GregM

        I don’t remember that, I was pissed from 1981 until about 1995.

      • Gazzaw

        Well Spink, at least we know that you aren’t Mallard now. Trev for all his faults would not be distracted by this blog in the middle of the first half of an ABs v Wallabies test match particularly as he’s probably scored some freebies in a corporate box.

        • GregM

          He HAD the tickets Gazzaw, “buy now” is at the game instead.
          22-0 to the mighty AB’s, awesome.

          • Gazzaw

            Haha! I stand corrected Greg. Yes, an awesome result. Dingo off to Europe in ime for club footy season?

  • David

    The Nats need to be a bit careful they don’t end up with Clark’s nanny state tag. You would expect them to say we will use the existing laws to deal with booze and not punish the 99% who do nothing more than have a good time.
    There are 600,000 smokers in NZ and we are getting a bit pissed off, can live with the price hikes etc etc but it’s getting to a tipping point where listening to Winston the other day made sense FFS. It’s a country not a damn crèche.

  • MrV
  • Paul

    Even if you believe alcohol is evil and the Government must save the day, this is silly as if you take away RTDs (Ready to Drink) the natural reaction is to go halves in a full bottle of vodka/rum/whisky and mix your own.

    I have had a few regrettable nights, but these were 100% when I was mixing my own. Even drinking a 6-8% at least you know how strong it is.

    • 2ndAmendment

      Why mix? nothing wrong with straight vodka or gin.

      • GregM

        Yep, the first time I wet the bed as an adult was after a night on straight gin.

  • Bunswalla

    As a father of two teenagers (15 and 13) I’m not so sure there isn’t some merit in this. In my youth I drank heaps like most of the posters on here but I can’t say it was always the best thing for me. We also had a smaller circle of mates that would look out for each other than today’s Facebook generation, and the worst we could ever get up to was a bit of pot. These days the range of temptations and situations that can end up with kids in nasty situations is much greater than ‘back in the day’.
    New Zealand, sadly, is still a very immature culture with IMO too much focus on alcohol and being staunch (just one of the reasons why our young people kill themselves at a rate greater than almost every other country in the world). Alcopops are like lolly water and are too easy to skull or drink several in rapid succession. They’re marketed specifically to young drinkers, especially females, and a shitload of young women have found themselves in very dangerous situations through binge drinking this stuff.
    I believe the first responsibility is with the parents to educate their children about responsible use of alcohol, including introducing them to it gradually as part of the family meal if they want to, from the age of about 16 or 17. But eventually you have to turn them loose and accept they’ll be exposed to peer pressure and a range of situations where alcohol is available. If alcopops are their first serious drink, I wouldn’t mind if they were watered down a bit.

  • Patrick

    & Goff was leading the charge to lower the age of consent to 12 years – how can he have any credibility after that?

  • Sir Cullen’s Sidekick

    Sir Cullen says – “Let us introduce a rich prick tax on alcohol. Any one earning more than 60K will need to pay 6% extra for buying alcohol. This tax will restore social justice in NZ and the additional revenue collected will be used for schools and hospitals”. Suckers, you fell for it in 1999, why not now?

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