Information from an anonymous informant (obtained under the Official Information Act and shared with HCA) shows senior Ministry of Health officials responsible for public health strategy are working closely with alcohol industry lobbyists on plans to address alcohol harm.
This has been reported by RNZ.
Information obtained under the OIA identifies there have been several meetings and communications between the Public Health Agency and the alcohol industry over the last 12 months, covering:
- early consultation on the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder action plan
- early consultation on a draft investment framework for the alcohol levy prior to public consultation. To the best of our knowledge, public health/consumer groups are yet to be engaged on this.
- the industry position on appropriate indicators for the UN Sustainable Development Goal on reducing alcohol harm
- the industry queried a review of the New Zealand ‘low-risk’ drinking guidelines and questioned why there was a link to the Canadian guidelines on the Health NZ website. Public notice of the review and the link to the Canadian guidelines on the website were subsequently removed, and the review appeared to be at least partially paused.
Protection of government officials and policies from industry lobbying
The issues above all concern policy to address alcohol harm. There is a fundamental conflict of interest underlying alcohol industry input to the government on such issues, given most alcohol harm only reduces if we drink less, and alcohol sales drop. Accordingly, the global alcohol industry regularly opposes policies known to impact on alcohol harm at a population level.
When it comes to alcohol, our most harmful drug, we believe New Zealanders and policy officials dealing with alcohol harm should have real protection from alcohol industry lobbying. The World Health Organisation specifically describes the need to address this risk, noting in its Global Alcohol Action Plan that “The development of public policies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol should be protected, in accordance with national laws, from commercial and other vested interests that can interfere with and undermine public health objectives”.
The World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requires the New Zealand Government to protect policies from the tobacco industry. A similar mechanism is needed for alcohol. Being party to this Convention means the Government must implement comprehensive and effective measures to address industry interference, including establishing systems to limit interactions between Government officials and tobacco industry. New Zealand should apply similar measures to the alcohol industry. For example, any requests for information from industry representatives should be entirely transparent, and interactions should be limited to those deemed strictly necessary.
Alcohol industry tactics
The alcohol industry paints itself as a legitimate partner while employing certain tactics in its policy advice. It tends to move attention away from population focused solutions that work (like cost effective regulations on marketing, prices and supply) to solutions that focus on the individual drinker, which are often expensive and only sometimes effective.
Even low and moderate levels of drinking increase the risk of cancer and other diseases, with cancer accounting for 42% of alcohol related deaths in New Zealand. However, the alcohol industry focuses on messages of ‘responsible’ drinking, which plays down the true scope of alcohol harm by focusing on a minority of irresponsible or heavy drinkers. Inevitably some politicians re-circulate these ideas and it gets harder to introduce policies that actually reduce harm. This tactic is seen in the OIA material describing the industry’s lobbying around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, calling for the alcohol measure to focus on ‘hazardous drinking’ and shift away from total consumption.
New Zealanders want the alcohol industry out of policy decisions
A new poll commissioned by Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Cancer Society shows most New Zealanders (71%) agree the alcohol industry should not be involved in developing policy on alcohol.
Some solutions
Health Coalition Aotearoa has just launched the Level the Playing Field campaign, advocating for tighter regulation of lobbying, including stronger protection during the development of policies likely to face commercial lobbying pressure, and higher standards of transparency. Industry members would still be able to make submissions to public processes, like writing submissions.
Conclusions
The evidence in this OIA gives an explicit example of how officials are exposed to communications, meetings and relationships with a powerful industry around policy that is supposed to be about protecting public health and wellbeing.
Aotearoa needs population level policies that work to reduce alcohol harm, and to ensure decisions about policy are not being swayed towards private and commercial interests.
