Using data and research to support your action
When making an objection to a new licence application, or a licence renewal application, it helps to have good relevant data about alcohol-related harm, and about the locality. Below are a few places to get useful information to inform your action.
Healthspace
Healthspace allows people to investigate a number of key indicators of alcohol-related harm. You can find local data on health outcomes, alcohol related traffic crashes, and licences.
Data are available at District Health Board level for:
- Hospitalisations wholly attributable to alcohol
- Prevalence of self-reported hazardous drinking
- Injury outcomes of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes
- Reported alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes
Data are available at Territorial Authority (council) level for:
- Hospitalisations wholly attributable to alcohol
- Injury outcomes of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes
- Reported alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes
- Licence density per 10,000 adults
- Licence density per 100km2 land area
- Alcohol licence counts
Data are available at Auckland Local Board level for:
- Hospitalisations wholly attributable to alcohol
- Licence density per 10,000 adults
- Licence density per 100km2 land area
- Alcohol licence counts
Data are available at Census Area Unit level for:
- Licence density per 1,000 adults
- Licence density per 10km2 land area
- Alcohol licence counts
Police Victimisation Data
https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publications-statistics/data-and-statistics/policedatanz
Policedata.nz is a portal that makes a wide range of police data available to the public. It may take a while to learn to navigate but you should be able to find information about police events in your local area, and over certain periods of time. The data available does not provide information on whether each event was alcohol-related. Start with the Crime Snapshot, and then look at victimisations by time and place to see more detail about where and when crimes occurred across New Zealand.
Index of Multiple Deprivation
http://www.imd.ac.nz/NZIMD_Single_animation_w_logos/atlas.html
The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a set of tools for identifying concentrations of deprivation in New Zealand. It measures deprivation at the neighbourhood level in local areas with an average population of 712. The IMD uses routinely collected data from government departments, census data and methods comparable to current international deprivation indices to measure different forms of disadvantage. It is comprised of 28 indicators grouped into seven domains of deprivation: Employment, Income, Crime, Housing, Health, Education and Access to services.
Census QuickStats
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-about-a-place
The census can provide demographic information about communities all over New Zealand. The census allows us to look at the whole country, territorial authorities, right down to local areas called Census Area Units. We can find information on age, sex, ethnicity, employment, income, family structure, education.
Mashblock NZ
Mashblock provides a user friendly way to explore publically available demographic statistics at levels of regional councils, territorial authorities, local boards, census are units, and meshblocks. Available data includes NZ Deprivation Index 2013, usual resident population count, breakdowns of age, gender, ethnic group, religious affiliation, and income. The website uses Census 2013 data from Statistics New Zealand. Locations can be searched by address or located on a map.
Alcohol Notices (Auckland region only)
https://www.alcoholnotices.co.nz/
Alcohol Notices provides an efficient way for licensees and applicants to publically notify their application for a new licence, or for a renewal of an existing licence. Community members can sign up for a daily alerts of public notices, or can search notices by date, area, and trading name. If you are outside of Auckland check with your local council for the best way to keep up to date with public notification of licence applications.
Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority
https://www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals/licences-certificates/arla/
The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) is the body that hears appeals when a party is unhappy with a District Licensing Committee decision. They also hear appeals to provisional local alcohol policies, and maintain a database of alcohol licences and managers’ certificates. It may be useful to search decisions of the Authority, or find details about specific licences.
It is also possible to search District Licensing Committee decisions for some areas:
Auckland: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZDLCAK/
Hamilton: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZDLCHAM/
Porirua: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZDLCPOR/
Waipa: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZDLCWP/
Wellington: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZDLCWN/
Find a District Licensing Committee hearing (Auckland)
This page provides details of upcoming and recent DLC hearings. If you click on the link “See the hearing documents” you may be able to access the agenda for the hearing and also the decision of the committee once available. Other councils may have similar pages to keep communities informed.
Companies office
https://companies-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz/
In determining the suitability of an applicant, it may be wise to search the names of the directors involved in a licence application, and assess if they have been involved in other companies. If they are or were involved in other companies, there may be clues as to the applicant’s suitability, for instance if they were involved in a licenced premises with poor track record on enforcement operations.
Get Prepared
New Zealand laws on alcohol promotions (including discounting)
New Zealand law restricts the promotion and/or advertising of alcohol that:
- encourages excessive consumption
- advertises or promotes discounts of 25% or more
This means that it is only against the law to advertise and promote a discount - it is not against the law to have a discount of 25% or more.
This law applies to anyone undertaking a business including on-licences, off-licences, club licences and special licences and to any promotions run by a person or company which is not licensed.
Section 237 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act is called Irresponsible promotion of alcohol. This section prohibits:
- Any person that encourages people, or is likely to encourage people, to consume alcohol to an excessive extent, whether on licensed premises or at any other place
- Any person to promote or advertise a discounted alcohol product that leads people to believe the price is 25% or more below the normal price of the product (other than in a licensed premises or in an off-licence catalogue)
- On-licensed premises to promote or advertise discounted alcohol that leads people to believe the price is 25% or more below the normal price of the product AND can be seen or heard from outside the premises
- Promotions or advertisements of alcohol that is free of charge (does not include free sampling)
- Offers goods and services or the opportunity to win a prize on the condition that alcohol is bought
- Promotions which are in a manner aimed at, or that has, or is likely to have, special appeal to minors
Although off-licence catalogues are excluded from the section, other media is included – such as billboards, window displays, etc.
Examples of acceptable and unacceptable promotions at on-licences and off-licences have been developed by the Health Promotion Agency.
ON-LICENCE ALCOHOL PROMOTIONS OFF-LICENCE ALCOHOL PROMOTIONS
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 also includes restrictions on where supermarket and groceries stores can display and promote alcohol. This is now confined to a “single area” within the store. Promotions must not be seen or heard outside of this area or from outside of the store. For more information on single areas in supermarkets, please click here.
Background
Promotion of discounted alcohol beverages
Of all supermarket products, alcohol is the most sensitive to price promotion
Discounting is a common strategy used to encourage alcohol sales, particularly within off-licences but also in bars and restaurants through the use of ‘happy hours’ etc.
In New Zealand, the majority (55%) of drinkers purchased their alcohol when sold on promotion (cited in the 2014 Ministry of Justice Report).
Supermarkets are more reliant on promotions to drive sales when compared to specialist liquor stores (e.g. bottle stores). In supermarkets, almost 6 in every 10 dollars spent on all items (including alcohol and groceries) in 2018 were sold on promotion, compared to 2 in every 10 dollars spent in liquor stores. In the year ending March 31 2018, 71% and 70% of dollars spent in supermarkets on beer and wine sales respectively, were for products on promotion. This compares to 23% and 31% in liquor stores.
Off all items in supermarkets, sales of alcohol have been shown to be the most sensitive to price promotion, particularly cask wine and beer followed by bottled wine. Simply put, shoppers are very responsive to discounted alcohol. Compared to alcohol sold in supermarkets, individual grocery items (e.g. coffee, toilet paper, confectionery) are less sensitive to promotion in price.
Price-based promotions are the key types of promotion activities for alcohol products
A study of 24 off-licences in Perth and Sydney found that there were 427 unique forms of promotion used across the alcohol outlets. The study found:
- Price-based promotions (including but not limited to discounts) represented 61% of all the types of promotion activities;
- Supermarkets had a higher number of price promotions compared to liquor chain stores;
- The most common form of price promotion was offering multiple items for a discounted price; and
- Wine had the highest number of price promotions, followed by spirits, beer and RTDs.
Effects of price promotions of alcohol in point-of-sale
A US study found that alcohol products in larger-volume packages (e.g., 12-pack) were more likely to be promoted than smaller packages (e.g., 6-pack). This finding has significant implications for reducing the harm from heavy episodic drinking.
An Australian study found that drinkers who participated in point-of-sale promotions report purchasing a greater quantity of alcohol than those who did not participate. This is particularly evident for beer purchases (average of 26.8 standard drinks vs 16.4), followed by RTDs (11.5 standard drinks vs 8.9) and wine (16.1 standard drinks vs. 13.8). Young drinkers were found to use descriptors such as ‘Price’ and ‘Cheap’ as the main reason that they purchased wine.
Another study also found that young people are very aware of in-store sale promotions in order to maximise their alcohol purchases within their budgets. Cheap alcohol may also facilitate social get-togethers, that would not have occurred otherwise.
NZ laws on the discounting of alcohol
New Zealand law stipulates that any person commits an offence if they advertise discounts of 25% or more, where the advertisement can be seen or heard from outside of a licensed premise. Discounts of 25% of more are permitted inside a licensed premise or in an off-licence price catalogue. It is important to note that it is only the advertising, not the offer of the discount, that is prohibited. In other words, heavy discounting activities (e.g., 60% discounts) inside supermarkets (and other premises) continue to be seen in New Zealand, especially during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
Note that it is illegal to offer free alcohol. Read more in the next section - GET PREPARED
Progress and impact of prohibiting different types of price-promotion
Take Action
Take action on the low price of alcohol
- Share any information on prices and promotions you have gathered with others through our Facebook Group. It could be useful in planning for advocacy efforts at the national level - please check out the section on advocacy for more information.
- Take opportunities to raise awareness of the effectiveness of pricing strategies with local decision makers and influencers. For tips and assistance, please check out the section on advocacy for more information.
- Raise the issue in the media through a letter to the editor or offering an opinion piece – for more tips and assistance, please check out the section on engaging with mainstream media or connect with community champions.
- Include price issues on any submissions on draft legislation (i.e. Bills) which relate to alcohol. We will develop a submission template on price measures when opportunities arise.
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Submission template - price measures on alcohol |
- To assist you, read more information on ALCOHOL EXCISES TAXES MINIMUM UNIT PRICING
- Join or support other advocacy efforts towards the implementation of more effective price controls, please check out the section on Mobilising Others for more ideas.