An ACT MP says it’s time to remove licensing trusts’ monopoly rights over certain alcohol licences in parts of Auckland and Southland — but to do so through changing the law, rather than a community referendum.
Simon Court, a list MP based in West Auckland, said he was shocked he couldn’t buy alcohol at the supermarket when he moved to the area 25 years ago.
“There’s almost nowhere to go [locally] to watch a band or hang out with our names and have a beer on a Friday or Saturday night.”
New Zealand established its first licensing trusts in the 1940s, with communities hoping it would mean increased community accountability and that profits from alcohol sales would be invested locally.
Of the 14 remaining licensing trusts in the country, only Waitākere and Portage in West Auckland, and Southland’s Invercargill and Mataura, still hold an effective monopoly over operating bottle shops and pubs.
Restaurants in the area can serve alcohol, but only when served with a meal.
Court’s members’ bill would remove these exclusive rights for trusts but would not dismantle them.
“The main beneficiary of this law change would be consumers. That’s access to more products and more retail outlets at better prices,” he said.
Q+A put it to Court that Health NZ has written: “A higher density of alcohol stores, and how close you are to one, significantly increases the rate of binge drinking.”
“There is no evidence that the rates of alcohol harm or alcohol-related incidents are any less in West Auckland as a result of a trust monopoly. So, I reject that,” he said, adding that he trusted West Aucklanders to make good decisions.
Curia polling in early 2025 suggested only about a third of adult residents in West Auckland judged the trusts’ efforts to reduce alcohol-related harm as good or very good, though less than half supported allowing liquor sales in supermarkets.
West Auckland’s trusts said they backed initiatives that tried to prevent alcohol harm.
Q+A asked Court if his bill undermined locals’ choice, given there were other ways to challenge the trusts’ exclusive rights.
For example, pressure group West Auckland Licensing Trusts Action (WALTAG) ran pro-competition candidates at this year’s local election.
Two WALTAG-backed candidates were elected on each of the Portage and Waitākere Licensing Trusts — nowhere near a majority.
Another option to challenge the trusts would have been to collect the signatures of 15% of eligible voters in a trust area. This would trigger a referendum in the community on a trust’s ability to continue to hold exclusive rights for on-licenses at hotels and taverns, and off-licenses for selling alcohol. A 2021 attempt by WALTAG to hit the threshold failed.
Court, who helped collect signatures for the WALTAG petition, said it was “very difficult” to get people to “get behind a petition for something that they really don’t know a lot about”.
“Look, most Westies are just going about their business,” Court said.
“They’re going to work, they’re taking the kids to school, taking them to sport. They’re not really thinking about consumer choice in the way that I am as an ACT Member of Parliament.
“I’m doing this because it aligns very strongly with my personal values, about increased choice.”
He said he sensed a similar demand for choice in Southland.
“Southlanders are in a slightly different situation.
“But what I do know, when I visit Southland, is that they are also experiencing an economic boom, and their ability to enjoy more choice, to have more venues is also limited by the monopoly that they live under.”
Mataura, Invercargill, Portage, and Waitākere trusts said they gave millions of dollars in profits back to local community groups.
Southland licensing trust leaders had also previously criticised Court for being too Auckland-focussed in his proposed changes.
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of NZ On Air
