North Coast cafes revert to take away as ‘Freedom Day’ hits the regions

As some cafes take a financial hit rather than refuse service, a North Coast MP says government doesn’t expect small business to police the public health orders.

The Black Apple cafe owners Justin Iddles and Renee Semenza. The pair have opted to revert to take away trading.

A North Coast MP says it’s not businesses responsibility to police vaccinations as some cafes revert to lockdown trading, unwilling to turn away customers or risk copping a fine.

The next phase of the NSW government’s ‘road map’ to reopening began on Monday with cafes from the Coffs Coast to the Tweed opting to open for take away only on so-called ‘Freedom Day’.

Some owners expressed concerns over having to “discriminate” against the unvaccinated while others wanted to avoid the stress of policing restrictions or falling foul of the rules.

Renee Semenza and Justin Iddles, owners of popular Moonee Beach cafe The Black Apple, said in reverting to take away they were electing not to “act as the enforcers of a policy designed to segregate and punish” certain community members.

Ms Semenza said while the decision would impact their trade they recognised restaurants and retailers occupied “a unique space” in the debate over Covid restrictions and felt they had a responsibility to take a stand that reflected their values.

“As a Covid-safe business that has willingly done everything we’ve been asked to do over the last couple of years to protect our community, we’ve taken this tact now because we believe that this issue transcends personal opinions about Covid and vaccination and threatens the essence of what it means to be a free society,” she said.

The Black Apple cafe owners Justin Iddles and Renee Semenza.

Ms Semenza said the response from the community had been overwhelmingly supportive.

While they could be critical of how the onus had often been on small business to “interpret and implement” government policies, Ms Semenza said the way the rules had been articulated wasn’t a consideration.

“When we heard what was planned for October 11, we knew we’d have to find an alternative approach or shut the doors entirely,” she said.

“I certainly sympathise with other business owners who, after two years of intense restrictions on trade, are put in the position this morning of turning away customers who just had coffee in their shop yesterday or risk copping fines and abuse.”

A number of other cafes including Split Cafe in Sawtell and Palate and Ply in Coffs Harbour have returned to takeaway trading.

Further north, cafes like Brew and Bake Co in Kingscliff and Lucid Pure Vegetarian in Murwillumbah also opted against opening for dine-in customers.

In a post on their Facebook page, Lucid Pure Vegetarian wrote that while it understood governments were having a “difficult time” balancing the rights of individuals and public health, it was against their culture to provide service to some and not others.

Woolgoolga Cafe Bluebottles Brasserie marked the occasion with a humorous social media post in which owner Dan Weiss mused that there were “a few other names for today rather than ‘Freedom Day’.”

Mr Weiss, who owns the cafe with wife Renee, said it had been a long two years for small businesses and they were once again “adjusting to where the goalposts are”.

While acknowledging there were ‘grey areas’ thrown up by the changing directives, Mr Weiss said they would be abiding by the public health orders.

He added it was “business as usual” for the cafe they have owned for eight years.

“It’s freedom day for some and not so for others,” he said.

“At the end of the day I am in the industry of hospitality and we exist to serve … and our entire team live by that.”

Meanwhile, Clarence Valley MP Chris Gulaptis said the ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent unvaccinated people entering a non-essential business did not include asking customers for their vaccination status.

However, businesses were entitled to do so.

Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis says it is not small business’ job to police the vaccine mandate, but they can if they choose to.

Mr Gulaptis said the onus was on the customer to “do the right thing” and ensure they were fully vaccinated before entering a premises and the government did not expect small business to police the public health orders.

Not only was policing the orders impractical for most small businesses, Mr Gulaptis said he did not want everyday situations to “escalate” into aggressive confrontations over people’s vaccination status.

“The whole purpose of the public health orders are to protect the public, certainly not to actually endanger the public by getting people involved in fisticuffs,” he said.