SA venue limits and other COVID-19 restrictions to ease in time for Easter

Capacity at pubs, clubs and restaurants will be lifted to 75 per cent – and churches and cinemas allowed to operate at 100 per cent – just in time for Easter.

Capacity limits at clubs, pubs and restaurants will be lifted to 75 per cent, capped at 1000 people, from next Wednesday.

Cinemas and churches will be allowed to go to 100 per cent capacity with up to 1000 patrons – but they must wear masks.

The new restrictions are a rare case of Police Commissioner Grant Stevens overruling SA Health on density capacity.

Premier Steven Marshall made the announcement on Wednesday, a year to the day since Australia faced its first lockdown.

“South Australia has done extraordinarily well during the Festival, Fringe and WOMAD period,” he said.

“This has given the Transition Committee the confidence to ease restrictions by the end of the month.

“We’ve had a one person every 2sq/m rule for venues – as of Tuesday night next week that goes up to three people per 4sq/m, to 75 per cent.

“This is great news, not just for patrons but for businesses across this state.

“It will be a massive relief to many SA businesses. This is about jobs.”

Charles Savage has a drink at the Coopers Alehouse in Gepps Cross, served by employees Brooke Thomas and Jason Goodwin. Picture: The Advertiser/ Morgan Sette

For venues licensed up to 1000 people, “we will be removing the dancefloor requirements that were there before”. Private gatherings stay at a maximum of 200 people.

Any venues that can house more than 1000 patrons must have a management plan.

Mr Stevens said there were “very lengthy” debate about the “key factors” with public gatherings and density requirements in Wednesday’s Transition Committee meeting.

“This is not an end point, this is another step along the journey and it’s a very long journey,” he said.

The changes do not immediately affect Adelaide Oval, which is still subject to a COVID management plan and will need to work with SA Health on any changes.

SA Police’s presence at Adelaide Airport will be scaled back but travellers will be required to sign in via QR code upon arrival.

And where possible, people should still maintain 1.5m distance from each other.

Two new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday, both from a medi-hotel. There have been a total of 644 cases in South Australia.

Duke of Brunswick owner Simone Douglas (front), with Damian Peterson (Hotel Metropolitan), Nicolle Hahn (Pony & Cole), Dave O’Connell (Dog & Duck), Laurie Bilby (Two Accents Gin) and Andrew Friebe (Maximilians) are among 120 hospitality business owners to have written an open letter to the State Government calling for an easing of capacity restrictions. Picture: Dean Martin

Earlier, Mr Stevens said he was looking “for ways to progress through these restrictions and remove all of them as soon as possible”.

“I’m sure you’ll appreciate a lot of that depends on the status of the vaccine rollout across the entire community and the level of take-up,” he said.

“It’s also contingent on people’s level of compliance with the QR codes, abiding by the restrictions that are currently in place because that gives us the ability to relax other things within the community.”

In relation to overruling SA Health advice, Mr Steven said the Transition Committee regularly had “robust conversations”.

“There are people appointed to the Transition Committee because of the perspectives they offer, the sectors they represent, and the ability to provide informed advice to me as the state co-ordinator,” he said.

“So we regularly have robust discussions and I think the committee wouldn’t be doing its job if there was a rubber-stamping process in place where everybody was in furious agreement with absolutely everything.

“There are tension points on certain issues, which is a natural consequence of bringing different perspectives together.

“But that’s what I need to be able to make informed decisions that give effect to what we need to do to prevent COVID-19 from adversely impacting our community but at the same time allowing things to happen as much as possible.”

The hospitality sector over recent weeks has pleaded with officials to relax the rules and warned businesses were on the verge of closing.

Business SA’s Martin Haese. Picture: Kelly Barnes/Kelly Barnes Photos

Business SA welcomed the increase in capacity limits, saying a survey showed more than 82 per cent of business would retain or hire more staff because of the rise.

“With JobKeeper due to end on Sunday, the timing is now perfect for South Australia to be taking this step to ease restrictions,” Business SA chair Nikki Goven said.

Business SA chief executive Martin Haese this week wrote in The Advertiser that businesses must be allowed to trade at 75 per cent capacity ahead of JobKeeper being wound back on Sunday.

“We have been told that we are following the health advice. We have been told that we will not keep restrictions in place for one minute longer than they need to be,” he wrote.

“We appreciate the considerable efforts of the State Government, SA Health and SAPOL but we do query why, at the end of the JobKeeper lifeline, so many businesses are still forced to trade at what may be 50 per cent of capacity.”

Currently, density rules are set to one person every 2sq/m, with clubs, restaurants and churches operating at 50 per cent while certain venues such as cinemas can operate at 75 per cent capacity if patrons wear masks.