Hospitality New Zealand was proud to welcome announcements by Hon Nicole McKee last week, proposing changes to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
These changes are the result of Hospitality NZ strongly advocating on behalf of the sector over years of consistent messaging. We met with Minister McKee weeks into her taking over the portfolio to share our concerns, and examples from members of how the licensing system in particular has been impacting certainty and confidence for licence holders, and are pleased this has resulted in a great win for hospitality.
It’s worth noting, these are still proposals and a legislative process is required for the law to change. We need you to make your voice heard when the time comes to ensure these proposals pass.
Licensing hearings
The Minister’s announcement essentially reverses the Community Participation Act provisions that allow objections from anywhere, and removed the ability to cross-examine objectors.
As we know, allowing objectors from anywhere has led to a series of tickbox objections, often from those who oppose alcohol generally rather than having a specific interest in the community or objection to a particular venue or licence holder.
Enabling or reinstating right of reply brings some balance back into the hearing process, allowing licence holders to respond to comments or criticisms within a hearing and providing an opportunity to refute incorrect or intentionally misleading statements.
While there are still frustrations in the licensing system (and we will continue to advocate for more consistency on how the Act is interpreted by agencies and district licensing committees), this is a great step to at least provide some balance for licence holders.
Zero percent alcohol
We’re also pleased to see provisions for zero percent beverages to satisfy low-alcohol availability requirements under SSAA (Section 52), something Hospitality New Zealand has long advocated for.
Zero percents currently fall into a grey area, leaving hospo businesses to carry low-alcohol products despite customer preferences moving away from these beverages. This is a great example of a small change that can improve a hospitality operator’s bottom line.
Televised events
Currently, a legislative process is required to allow blanket licensing hours for events that fall outside of typical licensing hours – this has most commonly been used for the Rugby World Cup, so venues can host viewing events.
These proposals allow the Minister to broaden which events can be exempt – for instance, the Fifa World Cup or Olympic events. While this is a small change, it creates opportunities for getting customers into venues.
Digital Identification
The goal of these proposals is to lay the legislative groundwork for digital age verification to be permitted for a range of use cases, including checking ID for alcohol purchases.
Currently the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act is very prescriptive about what constitutes acceptable identification, and these proposals allow the government to be responsive to digital identity innovation.
For Hospitality NZ, we're very supportive of these changes as we work towards becoming the first private organisation to develop an 18+ photo ID digital credential through our Kiwi Access Card. For venues, the potential benefits include simpler compliance with age verification requirements, faster and easier operational processes, enhanced security and better guest experiences.
Special licences
Changes were also announced for special licenses, namely introducing a National Risk- Based Framework, to remove inconsistent decision-making across the country. District Licensing Committees (DLCs) will be required to apply this framework, with the details, including risk ratings and conditions, set in regulations to allow for flexibility and regular updates.
As noted, these are still proposals, meaning there will be a process for these rules to come into effect. We will keep you across opportunities to engage in this process as a strong sector voice helps validate that these changes are important to hospitality. In the meantime, we’ll continue to be the voice of the sector and champion hospitality.