New Zealand Young Nationals
The Young Nationals, in conjunction with other New Zealand political party youth wings, support the current purchase age for alcohol of 18 years. They argue that the two biggest problems with the current law are the lack of emphasis on individual responsibility, and the ineffective attempts to enforce moderate drinking, and that raising the age, both at off-licences and at bars, will not solve the problem that New Zealand society faces around the issue of binge drinking. At the National Party Conference 2010 the Young Nationals passed a remit, led by 2010 National Policy Chair Edward Greig, for the continuation of a drinking age of 18.
National Minimum Drinking Age Act
A key cluster of philosophical opposition to the minimum lies in the natural human need for education and experience; young adults do not receive the opportunity to educate themselves and drink responsibly before the age of 21. A related line of thought emphasizes the importance of individual rights and freedoms. Another cluster comes from pragmatism, emphasizing the reality that young people are unlikely to stop drinking, and point to statistics on underage drinking as a reason to institute a lower drinking age, which would provide the opportunity to help "young people learn to make healthy and responsible choices". Social environmental theories are also cited; making alcohol a forbidden fruit may encourage more dangerous drinking than would occur if the drinking age were lowered. With a lower drinking age, young people would have access to "publicly moderated drinking environments", rather than "model their behavior after the excessive consumption typical of private student parties", though the perception of excessive drinking on college campuses is often overstated.