Keep the fun in festivals
Following the cancellation of Hamilton’s Great Kiwi Beer Festival 2022 over licensing conditions, alcohol licensing lawyer Pervinder Kaur looks at what to consider when organising an event...
When the organisers of the Great Kiwi Beer Festival announced they were cancelling the 2022 Hamilton event due to the alcohol licence conditions laid down by police and the Waikato DHB (reporting agencies), it provoked much discussion. A public hearing was held in January this year to hear the special licence applications and, as I understand it, although the organisers made several concessions to appease the concerns of the reporting agencies, the conditions were still deemed to be too restrictive for the event to go ahead.
It all seems unfair when such a big event is cancelled simply because there were issues that couldn’t be resolved in getting an alcohol licence. As an alcohol licensing expert, I can understand the frustration from the organisers’/business point of view.
Every so often, I see police and DHB representatives focused on ‘eliminating’ the risk of any potential alcohol-related harm and forgetting that the law is not actually about ‘eliminating’ the risk completely. Instead, it is about ‘minimising’ the risk of potential alcohol-related harm. We then end up in these situations where things become so difficult and impractical for the organisers that it is not worth running the event.
The object of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 is that the sale, supply, and consumption of alcohol is undertaken safely and the harm caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol is minimised.
I note Justice Moore’s comments in Auckland Medical Officer of Health v Birthcare Auckland Ltd1 where his honour said that “minimise is not the same as ‘eliminate’”.
In my view, alcohol doesn’t cause harm on its own. It is the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol that causes harm. Similarly, the mere existence of a licensed premises doesn’t cause harm.
There are many things to consider when you’re serving alcohol at a large event because you have a responsibility to your patrons around the serving of alcohol. It pays to organise, plan and prepare every little detail beforehand.
Organisers should consider:
Developing wellbeing and harm reduction messages that are customised to your event – think about your target patron demographic, their substance use behaviours and their expectations of event culture.
Site consideration – is the event inside or outside? What sort of weather is the event being held in? Event organisers should plan for extreme weather conditions, in particular during summer.
Make sure drinking water is free and readily available to patrons at or near the point of service at all times when alcohol is sold or supplied.
Reasonable food options should be available for the full duration of the event at reasonable prices.
Offer low-alcohol and non-alcoholic drink options.
Chill-out zones are considered appropriate to provide a calm, reassuring and safe environment in the event a patron is experiencing concern of symptoms of alcohol or drug harm. The area should be appropriately set up to allow distressed patrons to receive help.
Display a list of transport service providers.
What about neighbours? Is the site in close proximity to a residential area? Is the event going to impact (e.g. noise) on the residents around the site?
There’s a lot to think about when you’re organising a large event. If in doubt, seek advice and always make sure that you allow yourself ample time so you can work through the issues with the reporting agencies and/or attend a hearing well before the event.
1 Auckland Medical Officer of Health v Birthcare Auckland Ltd [2015] NZHC 2689, [2016] NZAR 287
Pervinder Kaur is an Associate at Harkness Henry specialising in alcohol licensing and resource management law.