Pūrākau For Change – the voice of those with lived experience taking action and inspiring change

At Community Action on Youth And Drugs (CAYAD) we believe it’s the community voice that has significant impact when it comes to community action and advocating for change. It’s the voice of people with lived experience, sharing their story of the impact the proliferation of alcohol stores in their community had on their journey to recovery. It’s the voice of a youth worker supporting rangatahi living on the streets, bombarded with alcohol advertising while trying to stay alcohol-free. It’s the voice of a rugby league club chairperson, trying to prevent tamariki from traumatic experiences at their local sports club. It’s the community voice that tells it how it is - their pūrākau, their story to inspire community action and influence decision makers and legislative writers.

CAYAD has been working with journalist Richard Betts to capture the voice of people who have or are still experiencing the harms of alcohol in their lives. Pūrākau For Change is addressing the need for more stories of those living with and addressing alcohol harm. CAYAD heard from MPs and people working in the political space that to influence change, politicians need to hear from the people impacted. They need to hear raw and real stories, real voices from the communities asking for change. He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata (What is the most important thing in the world? It is people!).

So what is the change we are asking for? CAYAD hear from communities and experts in the field that our current laws are not fit for purpose. They do not live up to their objective as stated in section 4, Part b of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that: “the harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol should be minimised”.

In March 2021 Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi indicated a review of the Act in response to irresponsible alcohol advertising. For real change to occur, this review needs to be thorough. This is where our communities’ voices should be reflected.

CAYAD is releasing 8 stories in total, and hope that Pūrākau For Change can inspire communities and decision makers to enable systemic changes to our alcohol legislation.

Photos supplied by CAYAD