Kiwi Kids Books

While I was busy studying for my Bachelor of Education at Canterbury University one simple pleasure I enjoyed was checking out the ‘new book’ section of the library. On one particular day I remember picking up a book called ‘Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell. In this book Gladwell talks about social events he calls ‘tipping points’. These are social events or consumer fads which once started, are impossible to stop. These tipping points are moments of ‘critical mass where a momentum change is unstoppable’. Two examples he uses in the book are the rise of Hush Puppies shoes in the 1990 and the declining New York Crime rate in the same decade.

Fast forward ten years later and I have now completed my degree and been teaching for a while. However, I was reminded of the book the other day as our class visited the Life Education Trust van. For those unfamiliar with this school resource, the Life Education Trust is a self sufficient trust that focuses on health education in our Primary and Intermediate Schools. The lesson the other day to my Year 7 class was on alcohol within New Zealand society. Sadly, I was reminded of the ‘Tipping Point’ theory as statistic after statistic was read out and discussed in our class. If ever there was a need for a social tipping point on the issue of alcohol within New Zealand that time is now. 

Alcohol is without exception the single most devastating drug available to New Zealanders. It is a drug that doesn’t linger at the bottom of the social class ladder and is a drug that has no respect for age, sex or race. It is a drug that impacts both users and non users through devastating accidents and spiralling social costs. Legislators within New Zealand have tried to provide answers through liberalisation and a myriad of laws, with little progress being made over the last 50 years. Sadly, it seems that only a social ‘tipping point’ based around honesty, sacrifice and modelling will be able to stop this slide.

If a tipping point is needed the obvious question we need to look at is how big is the current problem? Clearly, alcohol plays an important part in New Zealand’s culture, whether it is down at the sports club or a wine enjoyed with a nice meal. The latest research from ALAC (Alcohol Liquor Advisor Council) shows that 86% of New Zealanders drink at least occasionally. [1] New Zealand’s per head consumptions rate is lower than many European countries, but higher than Canada and the USA. The per capita consumption of alcohol in New Zealand has increased by 9% over the last 10 years.[2]

Sadly though the level of consumption doesn’t give a true indication of the problems we have in New Zealand with drinking. ALAC estimate that 785,000 drinkers over the age of 18 (29% of all drinkers) could be categorised as ‘habitual binge drinkers’.[3]

The statistics don’t get any rosy as we start to look at the damage it is having with our young people. The ‘Alcohol in Use’ survey found that 55% of 12-17 year olds had drunk alcohol in the last once in the last 12 months and the Youth 2000 report found that in 2007 60% of all High School aged students were drinkers.[4] Sadly, like New Zealand adults a culture of binge drinking is alive and well with 25% of young people saying they would drink more than 6 drinks on a typical night.[5]

With so much alcohol being consumed, both the social and financial burden on New Zealand is horrific. Every year 1,000 New Zealanders die from alcohol related causes.[6] Half of these are related to accidents and the other half from alcohol related cancers.

Sadly alcohol also affects other areas of our society. The link between alcohol and crime is very marked. In 2008, 31% of all crime committed in New Zealand involved an offender who had recently drunk.[7] In 2006 $172.2million was the total spent by the police force on alcohol related offending.[8] It is also a fact that on 21,263 times in 2008 police officers become nurses and taxi drivers and had to take intoxicated people to safety.[9]

Experts have suggested that if alcohol was to be categorised as an illicit drug it would have a class B classification; the same classification as opium and ecstasy. The World Health Organisation has recently classified alcohol beverages as ‘carcinogenic to humans’, placing it in the same category as asbestos, formaldehyde and tobacco. These statistics are nothing new to our politicians and law makers. However, since the turn of the 20^th century whatever policy or law that has been put in place has failed to deliver any lasting solutions. Following on from a wartime measure New Zealand had 6 o’clock closing until that was abolished following a public referendum in 1967. This saw a general liberalisation of the liquor laws within New Zealand as bars, sports clubs and restaurants were granted licenses. Obviously this saw an increase in general alcohol consumption in New Zealand, which peaked in 1978 at 12 litres of pure alcohol per person. The current rate is just below 10 litres per person.

In 1984 the Labour Government established the Alcohol Working Party which gave a report and recommendations for the future focus. Despite a number of submissions wanting the number of liquor outlets to be lessened the committee believed that focusing on providing safe drinking establishments as more of a priority. The resulting 1989 Sales of Liquor Act basically made it easy for shops to sell alcohol and allowed Supermarkets to sell wine. Ten years later that same liberal undertone accompanied the 1999 Alcohol Act which lowered the drinking age to 18 from 20 and allowed beer to be sold in Supermarkets for the first time. Sir John Robertson chaired the review committee and gave an optimistic view of alcohol liberalisation within New Zealand. Sadly, while in theory trying to develop a Mediterranean style of drinking culture within New Zealand sounds nice, it has been nothing more than a romantic dream. The liberalisation of alcohol has had the opposite affect on New Zealand’s society.

In 2009 the Law Commission released a paper called ‘Alcohol in our Lives’ which was a discussion document on alcohol in New Zealand. The comprehensive document looked at New Zealand’s current alcohol situation including both the benefits and problems associated with alcohol. The paper also proposes a number of tentative solutions for public consideration. These solutions are grouped under supply control, demand reduction and problem limitation.

Some of the recommendations are the following;

• Only people aged 20 and over can buy alcohol at off-licences.
• Bars and clubs to stop selling alcohol at 2am, with some extensions to 4am for those with a one-way door policy.
• Powers for police to immediately close bars and clubs that breach liquor laws.
• Widening the grounds upon which a liquor licence can be cancelled
• Giving greater regard to community concerns in granting a licence.
• Allowing the Liquor Licensing Authority to impose additional conditions on a licence for the purpose of reducing liquor-related harm.
• Increase excise tax.
• Lower excise tax on low-alcohol drinks.
• Powers for Government to ban some drinks on health grounds.

These new ideas do highlight a distinct policy change for New Zealand law makers on the issue of alcohol. These proposals are a clear move away from the liberal laws that successive governments have passed in New Zealand regarding alcohol. These new suggestions see a much more legislative reaction towards the issue of alcohol in this country.

Despite this change of attitude and legislative direction these ideas will have very little affect on New Zealander’s attitude to alcohol. The culture of alcohol is totally ingrained in our society and passed on at a young age to our children. New Zealand’s culture of drinking is habitually taught through our families and our communities. This is the root of New Zealand’s alcohol problem. New Zealand’s alcohol education is taught through our sports teams, through our high schools, through our media and sadly sometimes through families. Therefore, true social change will not come about through legislation because legislation cant change these areas to the extent that is needed. The only way that lasting change will happen is if societies and communities come to a crisis point and decide they want to make a change for the better. In other words New Zealand would require a social ‘tipping point’ around alcohol.

Sadly, true change like this requires two key attributes, honesty and sacrifice. Firstly, every New Zealander must be willing to look honestly at their family, their lifestyle and their choices and admit that they are part of the problem. This will be hard for many of us because deep down we do not believe that the problem lies with us. The problem is always greater somewhere else.

“The problem is down the road in the lower socio economic areas”

“The problem is that parents can’t control their kids.”

“The problem is the law.”

The sooner people realises that we all contribute to the alcohol problem in New Zealand the quicker this problem will be resolved. New Zealander’s like to think that what I do in my own home is my business. Unfortunately, as we see from alcohol, what we do in our own home quickly becomes what we do in public.

If New Zealand ever gets to the ‘tipping point’ and starts to look at themselves honestly that is only the start. After honesty comes sacrifice. True change in New Zealand’s alcohol problems will only occur when people start to make personal and community sacrifices for the good of their families and their children. Sacrifice is difficult because it requires us to give up something we may actually enjoy or want. A connected part of sacrificing is also the idea that by sacrificing we are actually modelling behaviour. Therefore sacrificing and modelling are two connected values.

We sacrifice and model everyday in our families and in our communities. Parents give up their weekends to run their children around for sports and music. Parents model correct behaviour to their children every day. For some reason however, sacrificing and modelling responsible behaviour with alcohol seems to elude many families.

So what might sacrifice and modelling look like.

• Sacrifice might involve a family modelling to their children they can have a party without alcohol.
• Sacrifice might involve a rugby club modelling to their players that alcohol does not need to accompany every after match function.
• Sacrifice might involve schools taking a harder line on alcohol related issues.
• Sacrifice might involve families going without alcohol for a period of time.

Sadly, the reality in New Zealand is it seems any social revolution is a long way off. As a society we have elevated alcohol into a position of power and prestige in our society. People sadly believe alcohol is a necessary factor into having fun, socialising or in fact just living. With this attitude pervading New Zealand is a long way off any ‘tipping point’ on the issue of alcohol.

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[1] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 “ALAC defines binge drinking as great than seven.” pg 31.

[2] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 38

[3] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 35

[4] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 38

[5] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 38

[6] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 43

[7] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 51

[8] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 53

[9] Alcohol in our Lives – July 2009 -pg 53