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A suggestion that Kāwhia’s summer liquor ban be extended has been rejected by Ōtorohanga District Council staff.
Kāwhia community board member Kit Jeffries said suggestions for an extended liquor ban came from a Community Day held at the Kāwhia Community Centre on June 3.
The liquor ban bylaw which restricts public drinking in Kāwhia from Christmas Eve through to the day after Waitangi Day, or the following Tuesday if Waitangi Day falls on a weekend – is up for review.
At the recent community day, a survey resulted in 85% of respondents stating the liquor bylaw had made Kāwhia safer and 90% wanted it to continue.
Additional comments said consideration should be given to extending the period the bylaw was in force, providing more signage and having more visible enforcement.
The ODC regulatory and growth manager Andrew Loe said his experience when he arrived each year in his ute with liquor ban signs the week before Christmas, was that Kāwhia was as quiet as ever. People didn’t arrive until after Christmas Day.
“Is a bylaw or a change to a bylaw the most appropriate way to address a problem?
“By inference, first there has to be a problem we are trying to solve. I’m not saying here hasn’t been anything, but as far as our record in-house is concerned there have been no disturbances in December in the week leading up to the holiday period,” he said.
“The other thing is, every time you impose a bylaw people lose a right – be that a right of access, or movement or whatever.
“So, you have to consider, is there any justification in supposedly decreasing the time people might be able to sit on the foreshore down here and have a beer?”
If a problem was to arise, the bylaw was structured in a way that would enable the timing of the liquor ban period to be extended by a simple council resolution, Andrew said.
Community board members voted to continue with a liquor control bylaw and approved the Alcohol Control Bylaw 2023 Statement of Proposal for public consultation in accordance with the special consultative process of the Local Government Act.
The Kāwhia bylaw was brought about by a troubled New Year’s Eve in 2007, which saw drunken brawling in the streets of Kāwhia, assaults on police, property damage and a murder.
Te Awamutu man Gareth Pehina Te Huia (23) died of stab wounds after a fight in Apakura Street shortly after 5am. He and the accused, 41-year-old Te Kūiti man Perry William Tuwhangai, were acquainted according to family, and had been partying at a nearby property.
In a further twist, the assault victim and murder victim Te Huia are cousins.
Tuwhangai later pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
Following public consultation, the Liquor Control Bylaw 2007 (the bylaw) was adopted by the council on October 9, 2007.
At a five-year review in 2012, initial support for making the liquor ban year-round was dropped following strong feedback from the Kāwhia community.
The ban was extended by a month to include Waitangi Day.
