Simon Power has announced an attack on small business owners throughout the country.
One of the big 'improvements [sic]” delivered by his reforms, is that it 'gives communities a say in when and where liquor outlets can open.”
This just blames small-business owners for selling to willing customers.
The same finger-pointing we saw in Manukau last week, marching on council to complain about what other people are doing.
One woman revealed to the interviewer that she had god on her side (she didn't say which one), complaining that in Manukau there is now 'a bottle store on every corner.”
'That's not what we want as a community,” she huffed.
Well, I beg to differ.
If there really were a bottle store on every corner that would indicate this is precisely what 'the community” wants because the customers of those bottle stores, (who come from 'the community,”) are the people who keep them open.
What she should have said was 'this is not what ‘I' want.”
In 'giving communities a say in when and where they can open,” he is really giving a say to busybodies and taking it away from the communities.
Because like that woman, Simon is oblivious that communities 'are having a say” by voting with their wallet every time they make a purchase.
They're called customers! What people in the real world need to make a living. It's not you or her who decides whether or not a store stays open! - They do: their customers. And customers are the community.
Shutting down small businesses won't limit demand for alcohol, it will simply change where it's bought. Has nobody learned anything from the ineffectual squillion dollar war on drugs?
Graham Clark, Lower Kaimai.