Petition to force vote on West Auckland liquor licensing monopoly fails

A three-year campaign to end West Auckland’s liquor licensing trust monopoly has failed, Stuff reports, with more than half of the signatures gathered being found invalid. The West Auckland Licensing Trusts Action Group (WALTAG) said it was “massively disappointed” at falling 934 signatures short of the 16,910 required to force a vote in 2022. The trusts return profits to the community, and mean alcohol can’t be sold in supermarkets and most bottle stores.