At first, I was worried when I saw we had lost the right to a search warrant before your car was searched. Further reading shows that you have the opportunity to depart the area.
With the liquor bans in place, it appears the intent is to push the drunks out of the CBD and into the suburbs, and those in the suburbs need to drink in daylight hours and not at night. I guess the council felt the drunks were too much competition for the kids clubbing downtown, or for the rowdy parties at home.
Looking at this ban, you are allowed to carry liquor within the area if you are picking it up for immediate delivery or taking it out of the area. Does this mean that courier companies will have to stop delivering wine? If they have several deliveries then some of it would fail under the so long as the liquor is promptly taken from the ban area requirement.
Who drafted this legislation anyway? I’m comfortable with banning open containers within an area, but only if it is restricted to glass being banned, and that’s simple from a safety point of view. This would mean that bottles of V would be banned, but not cans.
If someone is being an offensive drunk, then charge them for offensive behaviour. (Remember that in New Zealand, if you go somewhere expecting to see certain behaviour, then you cannot be offended by the said behaviour.) If someone is a harmless drunk, just remember they are harmless. If someone is a helpless drunk, then help them. Hiding them out in the suburbs is not the way to go.
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