Lessons in responsible drinking
and health officials need to be consulted by councils when considering licence applications. But councils still have room to move.
In the capital, police oppose all school fair applications that come before the Wellington City Council and none have been granted this year. By contrast, six school fairs in Christchurch were given special liquor licenses in the past year.
This does not mean that school halls were transformed into booze barns. It means parents can take a quiet break from watching the bouncy castles, folk dancing and kapa haka – as fun as those things are. Selling booze can also be a useful community fundraiser for schools. It is notable that police did not oppose the applications in Christchurch but the Canterbury medical officer of health, Alistair Humphrey, did.
His position is that the presence of alcohol at a school fair normalises drinking for children. Presumably the same children never see their parents drink wine or beer at home or in restaurants. There is a counterargument that sounds plausible to many and appeared in some applications from schools. It says including alcohol at events like school fairs demonstrates responsible use to children. Humphrey does not accept that argument.
There is a class element to this. Does the middle-class ‘‘chardonnay crowd’’, as Humphrey characterised it, think it can manage its drinking and that those guzzling less salubrious drinks in underprivileged suburbs are the ones with the problem?
It is well known alcoholism and hazardous drinking don’t respect social divisions and children on leafy streets are just as likely to see their parents dangerously intoxicated as children at low-decile schools. But playing the class- stereotype card avoids the greater issue, which is whether a community that is closely connected to its local school should be able to make its own informed decisions about responsible drinking and socialising.
If there is a health issue to be concerned about at school fairs, it is the prevalence of sugar-laden food and drink. But we assume parents can control their children’s urges at such times. We can also assume parents can display the same responsible attitude towards a quiet pinot noir in the sun on a Saturday afternoon.