A proposed member's bill addressing a power imbalance that prevents communities taking steps to develop public health measures on alcohol use could bypass the ballot process if enough MPs agreed.

A proposed member's bill that addresses a power imbalance preventing communities taking steps to develop public health measures around alcohol use could potentially bypass the ballot process.

That would be if 61 non-executive members of parliament agreed to it, but going on past form - in which New Zealand MPs have been reluctant to legislate against the burgeoning promotion and provision of alcohol in his country - there's no guarantee.

There are currently several member's bills in the parliament system that relate to alcohol, either up for first reading or yet to be picked from the ballot. Whereas most of these look to remove restrictions on where and when people can buy alcohol, only one bill addresses the harm caused to communities by alcohol.

Chlöe Swarbrick of the Greens has submitted the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill to the ballot. This bill abolishes appeals on local alcohol policies in order to provide proper local control over alcohol regulation. The MP described the appeals process as an anomaly in regulation that governs how people access potentially harmful substances.

The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 was billed at the time as empowering local communities to put in place alcohol policies to regulate things like how many bottle shops are in their area. But in practice, because of that special appeals process, commercial interests have frustrated attempts to protect communities.

"The appeals process has meant that particularly in the cases of communities trying to impose rules around how they want alcohol accessed that corporate interests have been able to override them and tie them up in court. That's meant that both Auckland and Christchurch city councils have spent in excess of $1,000,000 each in trying to put local alcohol policies in place," Swarbrick said.

"Christchurch ended up giving up, where Auckland is seven years down the track, still trying to implement that local alcohol policy."

In three decades or so since alcohol advertising became legal in New Zealand, booze has become increasingly available in communities, such as in supermarkets and grocery stores.

The second part of Swarbrick's Bill implements a number of the recommendations of the 2014 Ministerial Forum on Alcohol Advertising and Sponsorship, particularly towards ending alcohol advertising in sports and alcohol sponsorship for broadcast sports…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details