Wednesday, June 08, 2005



Drinking age: the vote

The Sale of Liquor (Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction) Bill passed its first reading tonight by 78 to 41, with 1 abstention. Here's how MPs voted:

For:

Paul Adams, Jim Anderton, Shane Ardern, Larry Baldock, Rick Barker, David Benson-Pope, Georgina Beyer, Peter Brown, Gerry Brownlee, Mark Burton, Chris Carter, John Carter, Brent Catchpole, Ashraf Choudhary, Helen Clark, Judith Collins, Gordon Copeland, Clayton Cosgrove, David Cunliffe, Brian Donnelly, Harry Duynhoven, Gerry Eckhoff, Bill English, Ian Ewen-Street, Taito Phillip Field, Stephen Franks, Martin Gallagher, Phil Goff, Mark Gosche, Sandra Goudie, Bill Gudgeon, Ann Hartley, Phil Heatley, Dail Jones, John Key, Annette King, Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Moana Mackey, Steve Maharey, Nanaia Mahuta, Wayne Mapp, Ron Mark, Murray McCully, Craig McNair, Damien O'Connor, Bernie Ogilvy, Mahara Okeroa, Pita Paraone, David Parker, Mark Peck, Edwin Perry, Winston Peters, Jim Peters, Jill Pettis, Lynne Pillay, Simon Power, Mita Ririnui, Ross Robertson, Matt Robson, Tony Ryall, Dover Samuels, Lynda Scott, Nick Smith, Murray Smith, Barbara Stewart, Paul Swain, John Tamihere, Georgina te Heu Heu, Lindsay Tisch, Tariana Turia, Judy Turner, Mike Ward, Maurice Williamson, Pansy Wong, Doug Woolerton, Richard Worth, Dianne Yates, Darren Hughes.

Against:

Marc Alexander, Tim Barnett, Sue Bradford, Don Brash, David Carter, Steve Chadwick, Deborah Coddington, Brian Connell, Michael Cullen, Lianne Dalziel, Rod Donald, Helen Duncan, Peter Dunne, Ruth Dyson, Jeanette Fitzsimons, George Hawkins, Dave Hereora, Rodney Hide, Marian Hobbs, Pete Hodgson, Parekura Horomia, Paul Hutchison, Sue Kedgley, Keith Locke, Janet Mackey, Trevor Mallard, Muriel Newman, Richard Prebble, Katherine Rich, Heather Roy, Ken Shirley, Clem Simich, Lockwood Smith, Lesley Soper, Roger Sowry, Jim Sutton, Nandor Tanczos, Judith Tizard, Metiria Turei, Kenneth Wang, Margaret Wilson.

Abstention:

Russell Fairbrother

Party Splits (For / Against):

ACT (2/7), Green (2/7), Labour (33/17/1), Maori Party (1/0), National (19/8), NZ First (13/0), Progressive (2/0), United Future (6/2).

If you're between 18 and 20, then you might want to pay attention to this list come election time.

BTW, it's good to see that ACT for once lived up their claim to be "the liberal party", and voted overwhelmingly against it. But at the same time, it's rather scary to see that they put being able to drink ahead of being able to have your relationship recognised in the great scheme of things.

6 comments:

Hmmm, not many surprises.

As usual:
- many Labour MPs seem to be deluding themselves that being "liberal" consists of preventing other people from enjoying themselves;
- the Greens prove themselves easily as libertarian as ACT, but without the private property neuroses;
- NZFirst puts the elderly vote first (curbing the pleasures of the young being a perpetual enthusiasm of old codgers)
- United Future MPs stick with whichever lobby group has been tickling them best. Must have been a hard sell for Peter Dunne to bring his loony Christians over to back the alcohol industry (or is my knowledge of United Future out of date?)
- the "Progressives" demonstrate themselves to be anything but
- National comes under the heading of "nondescript"

Posted by Anonymous : 6/09/2005 03:04:00 AM

Do you mean that if your between 18 and 19 you should vote ACT because the ability to get drunk is more important than anything else - totally ridiculous. If not could you please explain what you do mean. I'd hazard a guess ACT have more connections with the liqour industry rather than any percieved intention of being liberal.

Posted by Anonymous : 6/09/2005 10:26:00 AM

Davros: I thought it was self-explanatory. If you're 18 or 19 and annoyed by this vote, then the obvious thing to do is vote for an electorate MP - and party - who did not support it. In the party vote, I'd obviously suggest the Greens, since they've been fairly consistent in standing up for the rights of young people and have good policies in that area in general. And I certainly wouldn't suggest casting your vote for the Progressives.

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 6/09/2005 12:12:00 PM

Half of Act MPs voted for the CUB so your comment is disingenous at best.

Posted by Anonymous : 6/09/2005 12:31:00 PM

Anon: and half didn't, which is not what I'd expect from a "liberal" party. And their voting records on the Relationships Act and the Prostitution Reform Act aren't any better. A significant part of the ACT caucus aren't liberal by any strech of the imagination. The only freedom they support is the freedom of the rich not to pay taxes.

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 6/09/2005 02:09:00 PM

Prohibition worked really well, so I'm sure this law change will work out well, too!

Convincing people that drinking to get drunk isn't cool, and enforcing the law as it stands would be a better priority, in my opinion.

Posted by Anonymous : 6/12/2005 05:05:00 PM