Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Alcohol Reform Bill to ensure that off-licence premises cannot locate within a 1 kilometre radius of an early childhood centre, or a primary, intermediate or secondary school. This distance will mean that children walking to school will not have to pass off-licence premises and be exposed to behaviour that can arise from such establishments. It will create a buffer zone that will protect those attending existing educational establishments.

Supermarkets are excluded from this restriction because the provisions in the Bill require supermarkets to meet criteria that ensure the effect on children of sale of alcohol is minimised.

This restriction is predominantly directed at suburban areas where children pass off-licence premises on their way to and from school. An exclusion is provided in areas where a local alcohol policy provides for off-licence premises that may otherwise be within the buffer zone area as the local community will have had input into such a plan. This will mean that rural locations that may have only one store close to a relevant educational establishment will not be subject to the restriction if the local community chooses otherwise through the local alcohol plan. It will also allow people in areas that are not suburban in nature, such as those that are described as central business district or CBD, to provide for an exemption through the local alcohol policy process.