Conscience voting is a concept where every Member of Parliament is enabled to vote individually rather than along party lines on a bill or motion, but some parties still tend to vote as a group.
Occasionally in Parliament conscience votes are held on what are often described ‘moral matters’ such as abortion or euthanasia. Alcohol related bills are also generally subject to conscience votes, and this is what happened on Wednesday night when Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill, a Member’s Bill, had its first reading.
Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick during Question Time in Parliament Photo: Phil Smith
The first part of Swarbrick’s Bill would have empowered local councils to regulate alcohol sales, trading hours, and locations for drinking grog by abolishing the Special Appeals process from Local Alcohol Policies, the current system in which alcohol sellers have demonstrated an ability to frustrate council efforts to curb them - it’s partly why you see lots of bottle shops in poorer and more marginalised communities.
When kicking off the first reading, Swarbrick referred to it as an "uncomfortable debate about how we treat and think about our country's favourite drug".
"Alcohol is consumed by around 80 percent of New Zealanders. And of the adults who drank last year, 25.4 percent of us did so hazardously. We drafted this bill to reduce that drug harm. The Bill does that with mechanisms long researched and recommended to Governments of both stripes over the past 10 years."
The Bill’s second part looked to ban alcohol advertising and sponsorship in sport, pursuant to recommendations from a Ministerial Forum on Alcohol Advertising and Sponsorship established by the previous National-led government a decade ago.
Chance to fix
Both the National Party and the Act Party opposed the Bill, warning of threats to businesses from the proposed legislation and concern about the impact on "natural justice".
"It's important that we have natural justice in our laws. There are consequences of this bill on our small businesses and members of our community, and they have a right to their voice," said Act's Brooke van Velden.
In response, Swarbrick reminded van Velden that "we're talking about special appeals; we're not talking about removal of judicial appeals".
"We're talking about something that is baked in as a power imbalance for commercial entities in this country. It doesn't exist for vaping. It doesn't exist for tobacco. It doesn't exist for gambling or any other form of social harm. It exists especially because you guys baked it in in 2012. Here's the chance to fix it."
It’s not the first time in recent years that National has voted as a bloc in a conscience vote. Notably, the last piece of proposed legislation tabled under Swarbrick's name which went to a conscience vote - the Medicinal Cannabis Bill in 2018 - also found National whipping its members to vote as a bloc against it.
In this week's instance, National weren’t the only party to vote as a bloc - indeed the Act Party voted with National. Naturally, Green MPs all voted for their member’s bill.
Labour MPs decide for themselves
On the other hand, the Labour Party left it to each member to decide for themselves. Some MPs voted for the bill, some against it, and the various speeches by these Government MPs were instructive.
Lemauga Lydia Sosene spoke to her many years of experience working in local government in South Auckland and the difficult legal struggle she and others had when confronting a well-resourced industry regarding their concerns over the harm of alcohol to her community. However she said Swarbrick's Bill didn't go far enough and consequently she wouldn't vote for it.
Some of the opposition to the bill centred on concerns that without alcohol sponsorship, grassroots sports clubs would be left high and dry. But there are usually other sponsorship options for the sports clubs, and as Labour’s Arena Williams explained, clubs in her Manurewa electorate have comfortably made the move already. She voted for the Bill.
So too did Taieri MP Ingrid Leary, even though - as she pointed out - in response to Swarbrick’s bill the Government recently began working on amendments to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that would purportedly address part of what this member’s bill sought to do. Leary however said that the time to act is now, and that Swarbrick had done due diligence and provided cogent arguments for the Bill.
Labour MP Lemauga Lydia Sosene voted against the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Bill in the conscience vote, as not going far enough. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
"I also know that the South Auckland communities have been calling for this for years and years and live with the impacts of children walking to school and being confronted with up to five or six alcohol outlets on their way, even to school, let alone on their way home," Leary explained.
Another government MP, Jamie Strange - a self-confessed conservative voter on conscience issues - said he was compelled to vote for this Bill because of the clear harm that unregulated alcohol promotion posed to his community, and voiced disappointment that the opposite parties were voting as a bloc.
"Look, every member needs to make up their own mind in this House, and it is disappointing to me when a party does decide to vote as a block on a conscience issue. I personally don't agree with that, but obviously each party can do what they want to do," he said.
It’s worth pointing out here that numerous councils around the country, including the biggest cities, took the unusual step of passing motions to support the Bill in the lead-up to the first reading. But according to National’s Paul Goldsmith while speaking on the bill, “anybody vaguely acquainted with councils throughout this country wouldn't assume that councils always make the correct decisions”.
A self-confessed conservative voter on conscience issues, Jamie Strange was disappointed by the opposition's decision to vote as a bloc against Swarbrick's Bill. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
However, following its first reading, Swarbrick’s Bill went to a conscience vote and suffered a resounding defeat. The ayes were 30 and the noes were 89 (including Jacinda Ardern in her last vote as an MP).
We may never know whether any of the Opposition MPs may have wanted to vote for the Bill, against party lines, because it’s not something their party is liable to readily discuss. Sometimes parties make bloc-voting decisions after a vote in caucus (also common for Green and New Zealand First) and occasionally it is decided by a party leader.
There was another member’s bill related to alcohol that was also debated on Wednesday and which was also the subject of a conscience vote - a bill by National MP Ian McKelvie which seeks to remove restrictions on the consumption of alcohol at racing events. The Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Exemption for Race Meetings) Amendment Bill completed the committee stage successfully and without amendment.
