Patrons can drink standing up outside at SA’s licensed venues from Friday night
Pub patrons and wedding guests have been given some relief at last – the return of drinking while standing, and dancing. The new rules come into effect at midnight tonight.
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It’s time for a toast because South Australians can once again stretch their legs while having a beer at the pub — but only while they’re outside.
Under newly-eased COVID-19 restrictions announced on Thursday, licensed venues are no longer obliged to seat outdoor patrons who have a drink as of midnight on Friday night.
A plan to bring 300 international students back to South Australia has also been given the green light, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged SA will be one of the first states to reopen to New Zealand in a trans-Tasman bubble.
Following the state’s Transition Committee meeting, Premier Steven Marshall also announced private functions at licensed venues, such as weddings, will be allowed to have 150 people with dancing and standing alcohol consumption.
The eased restriction also comes into effect as of midnight Friday night.
We know this is a sector which has been very hard hit with restrictions in place for an extended period of time … We know there is an opportunity to stand up a lot of jobs if we can get the restrictions right,” Mr Marshall said.
“It’s something the sector has been calling for, for a long period of time and this is going to be a big relief to many licensed premises who have not been able to have those functions.”
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said both measures were important steps for the community.
“We still are restricting that type of activity indoors where there is less circulation of fresh air but this is a good step forward,” he said.
“The direction will be quite specific but the principle is if you have an outdoor area as part of your licensed premises, then you will be able to have standing alcohol consumption in that area.”
On the topic of dancing at private functions, he said while there was a 1.5m social distancing requirement, it was expected that venues ensured the one person per 2 sqm rule was adhered to.
“It’s a matter of best endeavours,” he said.
“I think if we see a general adherence to that, that’s what we’ll be looking for. Obviously, when you’re undertaking certain activities it’s harder to comply with that but we’re talking about a general principle which should apply most of the time.”
Mr Stevens, who is also the State Coordinator, said a decision on border restrictions with Victoria was premature.
“We do consider the complications of regional Victoria and the difference in terms of COVID-19 activity outside of the metropolitan area but there are no charges forecast at this time,” he said.
“We rely heavily on the advice from Victoria Health and that’s received by our health professionals and they consider what the implications are for SA.
“It’s probably too early to call in terms of what concessions will be made in terms of people travelling from Victoria to SA and how they will be managed.”
Industry leaders said the rapid lifting of the bans was a cost-free way to boost the sector destroyed by coronavirus.
Australian Hotels Association SA general manager Ian Horne said the changes were only one step back towards profitability for the industry.
“For example, unless there is an outdoor area, many of our members miss out,’’ he said. “The next easing of restrictions should be indoor drinking standing up.”
Mr Horne said the big winners would be function centres.
“There are millions of dollars in cancelled functions which will now be back on,’’ he said.
SA chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said allowing dancing at private functions “was sensible”.
She said if there were a virus case at a function, her team would be able to do contact tracing of other guests.
Bride-to-be is doing her happy dance
For months, bride-to-be Christina Taliana has been afraid that her guests would not be allowed to dance the Italian tarantella on her wedding day.
But the 28-year-old and her fiance, Sam Barbaro, are kicking up their heels after hearing the state’s COVID-19 rules have changed in time for them to have the traditional group folk dance at their wedding later this month.
The couple originally planned to wed in April this year but tough COVID-19 restrictions meant they had to postpone until October.
“We have done the tarantella at everybody else’s wedding, so it is going to be so nice to do it at ours,” Miss Taliana, of Mawson Lakes, says.
“As you could imagine, we dance so often, so it means a lot to us.”
Miss Taliana, who originally had a guest list of 570 people, says dancing on the day will make wedding celebrations “that extra bit special”. “I have had so many people ringing me and messaging me – everyone is just so excited,” she says.