This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Renewal of Licences) Amendment Bill (No 2) (the Bill). Section 95 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (the principal Act) is amended to allow territorial authorities to make minor amendments to, or correct errors in, local alcohol policies by giving public notice of the amendments or corrections.

This change was recommended to the Governance and Administration Committee by Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) in 2018, when the committee considered the Bill and accompanying Supplementary Order Paper No 14. LGNZ submitted that the principal Act is unclear about the process for amending a local alcohol policy. Section 95(2) of the principal Act provides that the Act applies to the amendment of a local alcohol policy as if it were the adoption of a local alcohol policy. LGNZ submitted that the principal Act fails to provide direction about whether an amendment (regardless of significance) requires use of the special consultative procedure or not, and considered that the principal Act could be interpreted to require a repeat of the process set out in section 79 for adopting a new policy, including preparing a provisional policy and providing a right of appeal.