Now you might remember that the federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said it would be up to businesses to decide if they let unvaccinated patrons into their premises.
Well, it looks like in NSW, at least at the 70% vaccination level; this will not be the case.
From today’s presser:
Gladys Berjiklian: At 70% we’ve been extremely clear and extremely black and white. There is no doubt as to what we said when we announced the road map.
At 70%, if you’re not vaccinated, it will be a health order and the law that if you’re not vaccinated, you can’t attend venues on the road map. You can’t go into a hospitality venue. You can’t go to ticketed events unless you are vaccinated. We made that very clear for 70% double dose.
What I also said that day is that we’re considering what 80% double dose looks like because, then, what we need to consider is not only what the unvaccinated population could do to our hospital system but the rate at which disease can still spread if too many people are unvaccinated.
On the legal issues around the ‘vaccination passport’:
Berjiklian: I’ve given pretty good guidance today. We’ll have the vaccination passport in New South Wales when we hit 70% double dose.
You’ll be able to check in with your QR code and see whether or not you’re vaccinated and that’s really important…
The government will need to seek legal advice ourselves. This is uncharted territory but we’re providing as much certainty as possible, as much as we know exists at 70% double dose and in good time, with plenty of notice, we’ll be giving everybody a road map as to what 80% double dose looks like.
The premier has been asked if it will be an offence for a business to accept a customer who is not vaccinated when the state reaches the 70% vaccination period of the roadmap.
Berejiklian: We are going through compliance issues now, so there is an onus on you as an individual to be vaccinated and it will depend on the size of the business.
But there is individual responsibility involved and for larger institutions, workplaces, major events, you’d expect some level of business involvement but for smaller sized businesses, that’s odorous so we are looking at the whole regime and will make that public to give people time.
This appears to be the first time that the NSW premier has confirmed her intentions to explicitly make it against the law for unvaccinated people to attend venues during the 70% vaccination period of the roadmap.
Berejiklian: There is no doubt as to what we said when we announced the road map. At 70%, if you’re not vaccinated, it will be a health order and the law that if you’re not vaccinated, you can’t attend venues on the road map. You can’t go into a hospitality venue. You can’t go to ticketed events unless you are vaccinated. We made that very clear for 70% double dose.
Meanwhile the ACT outlines future roadmap out of lockdown
The ACT chief minister has outlined the general shape of the territory’s roadmap out of lockdown once double vaccination rates of 70% and then 80% are achieved.
Andrew Barr: Like our transition out of lockdown last year, the following types of restrictions will gradually change.
Gathering sizes will increase when it is safe to do so, noting that outdoors is safer than indoors. Larger events and gatherings may remain restricted for longer.
Density restrictions will apply within businesses, venues and facilities. Like last year, businesses will be asked to apply density limits of one per 4 square metres and phasing down to one per 2 square metres for periods of time during the transition.
There will be caps on the number of patrons and clients allowed to enter a business. Higher risk businesses and venues will likely need to remain closed or more tightly restricted for longer periods of time.
And the Victorian Premier has confirmed that he will be releasing a ‘roadmap’ on Sunday.
Victoria is expecting to reach 70% first dose target tomorrow with limited easing of restrictions to be announced. On Sunday the Premier will release a detailed roadmap of what will be happening when 70% and 80% full vaccination targets are reached.
Current vaccination levels by jurisdiction
Showing the percentage of the 16+ population vaccinated by dose and state of residence, and the date we could hit 70% and 80% of the 16+ population fully vaccinated based on the seven day moving average of second doses. Last updated 15 September 2021
State | First dose % | Second dose % | Reach 70% on | Reach 80% on |
NSW | 79.46 | 47.54 | 12 October | 24 October |
NT | 60.63 | 44.89 | 31 October | 18 November |
SA | 59.91 | 41.19 | 12 November | 02 December |
WA | 57.61 | 38.8 | 12 November | 01 December |
TAS | 67.51 | 49.26 | 30 October | 21 November |
ACT | 75.87 | 52.09 | 09 October | 23 October |
VIC | 67.62 | 41.44 | 18 November | 10 December |
QLD | 57.12 | 38.78 | 15 November | 05 December |
Thanks to The Guardian Australia for transcripts
Comment on this article