New Youth Drinking Laws

As most will know I was involved in the campaign to stop the alcohol purchase age increasing from 18 to 20.  I thought it was discriminatory, wrong and ineffective.

The Keep it 18 campaign pushed for more work to be done on the supplying of alcohol to people under 18, rather than targetting legal 18 and 19 year olds having a drink at a bar.

Well according to this SST story, the Government is looking at doing just that, and mostly it looks sensible.  My initial thoughts:

• * The creation of a new offence for an adult to supply alcohol to anyone under 18 who goes on to consume alcohol in a public place – good, but may not catch those 200 string parties which spill onto backlawns and involve Police.
• A new offence for anyone under 18 to supply another minor with alcohol to be consumed in a public place – yep also good – often older teens supply younger teens
• Managers of licensed premises will lose their right to sell alcohol if they are caught selling alcohol to minors three times within three years – ouch, pretty harsh.  Maybe too harsh but having a clear line is a good thing.
• Zero tolerance of alcohol consumption for drivers aged under 20. The current limit is 30mg for every 100ml of blood, lower than the 80mg limit for over-20s – not so sure on this.  The current limit means that one can effectively have barely a drink and be legal, so is close to a zero ban.  I’m not sure arresting someone who had one sip of beer is sensible.  I’d like to see road safety stats on how many accidents are caused by young drivers whose blood alcohol is greater than zero and less than 30.
• * Tighter rules over which documents those selling alcohol can rely on as proof of a young person’s age – yeah should be passport, driver’s license or that special proof of age card.
• * Removal of a major loophole used by bars and shops to avoid prosecution for the sale of alcohol to minors. Currently, the law says it is a defence if a shop or bar “believed on reasonable grounds” that the person they were selling to was over 18 – good, retailers should be checking for anyone at all who is even close to marginal.  That may mean age checking anyone who looks under 30.

Will be interesting to see the actual Bill.  I do wonder though why on Earth they are only consulting with support parties, and not all parties in Parliament.  This is not a politically partisan issue.