COVID UPDATE for NSW
Christmas, QR Codes & Exemptions


Dear ,

You will, by now, likely to have seen today’s announcements by the NSW Premier regarding the short term changes to the allowable number of visitors that can be welcomed over this Christmas period. For the majority of NSW, this is now 10 visitors, plus any number of children aged 12 or younger. However, on December 27th this reverts to a total of 10 persons regardless of age. These limits refer only to household gathering with no additional changes to how hospitality venues, such as our camps, can operate.

I note that in my December 21st update I flagged an intent to request an exemption to the 4sqm rule for those aged 15 years and under.

Due to the extremely limited, and short term nature of these changes announced today, I will not, at this time, be making this request. We are likely to have only one chance to request this exemption, and given the caution approach the NSW government is taking on this outbreak, I would see it has highly unlikely that any such exemption would be granted. In fact a request at this time could cause significant reputation harm to our sector.

On the basis that most venue aligned health alerts are current for 14 days from date of notification, it would appears quite possible, based on the current trends, that many of these alerts and thus the associated risks will expire early in the new year.

Therefore, I will continue to monitor developments, and when we see the NSW government displaying a level of confidence that this current cluster has been contained, we will begin our advocacy regarding an easing of density rules.

Changes to QR Code

I note that the NSW Premier has instructed all hospitality venues to use the Service NSW QR code system from January 1st. I would strongly urge all our members to adopt this system as a matter of urgency. We will dialogue with NSW Health in the new year regarding the recording of data for school groups and other mass groups, however, until this is clarified I would encourage all who attend your venue to use this Service NSW program.

Access is simple for all businesses with a registered COVID Safety Plan (and these are compulsory for our sector), and can be found here https://www.nsw.gov.au/lost-qr-code.

I will continue to monitor events during this Christmas and New Year, and I again take the opportunity to remind us all, that, in the midst of this ever changing and continually challenging environment, this Friday we celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus. This news remains a cause for celebration even in a pandemic.

A Saviour is Born!

Graeme