NSW Freedom Day: Pubs, retail gyms open at midnight as lockdown ends
By 10am on Freedom Day, Premier Dominic Perrottet had already squeezed in a haircut and a “Freedom Frothy” but revealed a sobering statistic about the state of the NSW economy.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
By 10am on Freedom Day, Premier Dominic Perrottet had already squeezed in a haircut and a beer, or the “Freedom Frothy” as his deputy Paul Toole dubbed it.
Mr Perrottet has called on Sydneysiders to follow his lead and get the state out of its economic crisis by heading to hairdressers, pubs, restaurants and cinemas.
“It’s not just a health crisis, it’s an economic crisis as well. We need to learn to live alongside this virus,” he said.
He added that even former Premier Gladys Berejiklian could be going out for a beer tonight to celebrate.
”You never know, Glad may even go out and have a beer herself,” he said.
Treasurer Matt Kean also urged people to back their local businesses and help the economy “bounce back better”.
”We need to get out there, encouraging people to go down to your local pub and have a beer, get a haircut, grab a coffee, support businesses across the state, that means growing our economy and coming out of this better than we came into it,” he said.
He said lockdowns had cost the economy $1 billion a week and that figure is expected to half with the easing of restrictions.
Small business Minister Damien Tudehope said businesses had reported bumper bookings with hairdressers among the most popular.
“I was at the hairdresser this morning and she’s booked all day. Every hour a new customer,” he said.
”People are waking up today in circumstances where they are feeling happy about their lives. This is a Christmas for families.”
NSW Business Chamber boss Daniel Hunter said today marked “back to business” day.
”It’s time for us to heal. It’s time for us to get back to financial wellbeing,” he said.
But the reopening won’t be without hurdles with Mr Hunter confirming businesses were facing a major labour shortage due to restrictions in migrants.
“It comes down to a general labour shortage. We don’t have backpackers coming through … In Australia we rely on immigration and migration for short term and long term labour,” he said.
Watson’s Pub boss Mike Watson said his business had been inundated with bookings but finding staff to cater to them had been a challenge.
”We really rely on overseas travellers, backpackers and the like and they are either just not here or taking roles elsewhere,” he said.
“We’ve really struggled to find staff”
Mr Perrottet said he will be speaking to the federal government to bring forward the reopening of international borders.
”We can’t live here like a hermit kingdom on the other side of the world, we want returning Australians to come back,” he said.
SYDNEY CELEBRATES FREEDOM DAY
After 100 days of lockdown, there’s a lot to cheers to for the crowd of early-rising pub-goers enjoying a drink at The Mercantile pub in The Rocks.
The historic Irish pub had queues pouring out the doors ahead of its 10am open on Monday, bursting with people ready to celebrate their new freedoms.
The venue is bracing for a huge Freedom Day bash with more than 160 bookings and an all day live music line-up with Irish dancers.
Pub manager Mick Comerford, 34, said the energy in the pub is absolutely infectious after three months looking at an empty bar.
“There’s a nice cosy atmosphere because of the rain and people are really happy and excited to be back to normal,” he said. “There’s a lot to cheers to.”
Jack Kerr, 31, enjoyed a Guinness on tap before breakfast.
“It feels great. It’s really good to be back. You got to have Guinness on tap and it’s nice having a beer for breakfast,” he said.
Australian Hotels Association NSW Director John Green was also at the pub celebrating. He is more excited than ever for the industry’s future.
“It’s the first step in what will be a really long road. We’ll be operating at 25 per cent. We’re finally able to employ our staff and be part of the recovery,” he said.
MIDNIGHT BEERS, HAIR CUTS AND SHOPPING
Michael Cody reckons it’s the best tasting beer he has ever had.
After more than 100 days of stringent lockdown, Sydneysiders are waking to ‘Freedom Day’ and the scaling down of health orders intended to bring Covid-19 to heel.
For many though, there was a chance to get in early with swathes of restrictions lifting at 12.01am Monday.
Mr Cody, along with a group of mates, was among those to take advantage of pub doors being allowed to open post-midnight – with the historic Fortune of War in The Rocks among the venues back in business.
“100 per cent, it’s the best beer I’ve had,” Mr Cody said of his first schooner at a pub since June.
“It’s definitely a highlight being able to have the first beer back at one of the oldest pubs in Sydney.”
His friends, like many of us starved of social-interaction after months of lockdown, were in a similar boat.
“I’m very excited to be able to meet up with larger groups of friends, it’s just not the same over the computer,” Darcie Hill, a student, told The Telegraph.
“It’s hard to live your life when you can’t spend time with the people you work with or are friends with,” agreed Balmain’s Anthony Muirhead.
And the joy wasn’t limited to one side of the bar either.
Steven Speed, the publican of the Fortune of War for the last eight years, described the feeling of pouring his first schooner in three and a half months as “outstanding”.
“It feels like I’ve got parole,” he joked.
Like many others running businesses across the city, he’s confident that people’s desires to get back to normal would lead to a quick rebound for his business – but the lingering damage of such a long lockdown will still take some time to get over.
“After 106 days (of lock down) the question is how long it’ll take to recover,” he said.
“There’s been no tourists, very few office workers, no ships – traditionally we open at 9am and it’s nothing to have 15 or 20 American tourists in here by 10am.”
But after more than three months of having to shepherd his empty pub through lockdown, Mr Speed was positive businesses would be able to handle whatever comes next.
“I think we’ll come back swinging, but there’s still restrictions we have to manage,” he said.
“I think the Aussie spirit is to keep fighting to get to the end of it.”
There were queues at Canterbury Leagues Club ahead of its midnight open while hundreds of shoppers inundated Kmart Penrith.
Hairdressers and gyms also flung open their doors at 12.01am after 15 weeks without patrons.
More Coverage
Originally published as NSW Freedom Day: Pubs, retail gyms open at midnight as lockdown ends
NSW looks to force private health insurers to pay a higher levy
The Minns Government and private health insurers have escalated their fight over hospital funding into an all-out brawl, while the NSW Treasurer admits Mike Baird got it right 10 years go.
Thousands without power as more storms loom for Sydney
Sydney is bracing for more storms after severe weather brought lightning, large hailstones, and heavy rain, leaving thousands without power. Emergency services responded to dozens of calls for help, with the inner west hit hardest by the deluge.