Skip to main content

Story: Interest groups

Liquor lobby: regulation defeated

Image
Liquor lobby: regulation defeated

In 2010 the Law Commission recommended that the liquor industry be more tightly regulated to reduce the huge economic and social costs of drinking. The industry opposed stronger regulation and helped persuade the government to introduce reforms that were not detrimental to their operations. This Tom Scott cartoon suggests that the outcome was the result of politicians being beholden to the industry for political funding.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: DCDL-0014385

by Tom Scott

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Raymond Miller, Interest groups – Economic interest groups, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/34974/liquor-lobby-regulation-defeated (accessed 30 June 2026).

Story by Raymond Miller, published 8 March 2013, updated 1 April 2020.