City of Hobart mandates Covid vaccinations for staff and visitors
The list of places banning unvaccinated Tasmanians from December 15 continues to grow, with the town hall, dump and aquatic centre off limits as well as pubs, clubs and music venues. FULL LIST >>
Tasmania
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CITY of Hobart has announced they’re mandating vaccinations for all staff and visitors to council workplaces.
CEO Kelly Grigsby said the move would ‘protect staff and the broader Hobart community’.
“With borders reopening and the inevitability that COVID-19 will enter our community, we are taking a leadership position to protect our staff and our community to the best of our ability, utilising the resources that are available to us,” Ms Grigsby said.
“As an organisation, we need to be ready and able to respond quickly to any emerging situation – COVID or otherwise – and to support health services and other partner agencies, should the need arise as the result of an outbreak.”
Under the proposed policy, all City of Hobart employees need to have booked their first vaccination by 15 December – the date the Tasmanian border is due to reopen to all domestic travellers.
By December 31, staff will need to have had their first shot of the vaccine, with the second dose required by 31 January, 2022.
In addition, visitors to City of Hobart workplaces – including the Town Hall, Council Centre, depots, Travel and Information Centre, McRobies Gully Waste Management Centre, and the Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre – must be fully vaccinated in order to enter the premises from 15 December onwards.
“This is a matter of prioritising the health of our staff, and supporting our community at a time when they are likely to need us most,” Ms Grigsby said.
“The City provides a range of essential services to our community and our community needs to have confidence that we can continue to provide these services in the event of an outbreak.”
Starting December 15, staff who are not yet vaccinated will be required to undergo regular rapid antigen testing, administered on-site by a nurse.
Vaccinated customers only to pubs, clubs
PUB and nightclub-goers are being told they will have to be vaccinated to enter Tasmanian venues from next week, but the rule is built largely around trust in individual patrons.
A Public Health direction has been introduced that requires people to be vaccinated in order to attend pubs, bars, nightclubs and licenced events where alcohol is served and people are freely mixing.
But while such venues will have to display a notice promoting that fact, there is no onus on businesses to check customers’ vaccination status.
Police will instead be tasked to conduct spot checks, with fines of around $770 applying for those found to be in breach.
All staff working in these areas also must be fully vaccinated from December 15.
Public Health Director Mark Veitch said it was not realistic or workable to require venues to check each patron’s vaccination status.
“Police are empowered to ask people for evidence of their vaccination status in those venues that the Public Health directions apply to,’’ he said.
“And there will be a range of measures there for people who are unvaccinated, ranging from asking them to leave, through to potentially fines of $770 or so dollars.
“The onus is of course on people to do the right thing.
“We’ve asked people to do the right thing all along through the Covid pandemic ... and I do hope that people will accept that in enabling freer mixing and moving in those settings, that they will do the right thing.”
>> How to get your Covid vaccination certificate on your phone
Dr Veitch said businesses could ask customers to provide evidence of their vaccination, but they were not required to.
“They may choose that it’s in their best interests to limit the people who are coming to their premises to people who are vaccinated,’’ he said.
Health department secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks told Tasmanians: “If you want to enjoy your summer to the max, please get vaxxed.”
Tasmanian Hospitality Association chief executive Steve Old said the THA board had unanimously agreed individual businesses should not have to police the vaccination status of patrons.
“We fully support the govenrment’s decision to put the onus on individual patrons to comply with and be truthful in regards to vaccination requirements,’’ he said.
“The message is crystal clear, all obligations fall onto patrons to do the right thing.
“Should an individual venue wish to and be in a position to police this more stringently themselves, then they are more than welcome to as part of their own risk management plan.”
Labor MP Ella Haddad claimed Tasmanians were being given “confusing” information about Covid-related rules less than two weeks before borders reopened.
“We need to know that there are significant and tangible processes in place that mean people know what the rules are and that people are ably to comply with them,’’ she said.
“The information that the government has released over the last few days is confusing, it is conflicting and it’s not going to be easy for people to understand.”
FULL LIST OF NEW RULES:
Vaccinated entry applies to:
- Pubs, nightclubs, bars and events such as music festivals where people are freely mixing and moving;
- Customers and staff (from December 15) including performers;
- Licensed events of more than 250 indoors and 500 outdoors with either a licence to permit to serve alcohol
- Where venues have multiple areas separated by a wall, vaccinated entry is only required for entry into the bar section of the venue.
- Where venues change from seated service to bar service during the course of the day, vaccinated entry is not required where seated service only applies.
Vaccinated entry does not apply to:
- Guests attending weddings and funerals;
- Restaurants, cafes and clubs (like RSL and community sports clubs;
- Licensed venues where all patrons are required to be seated at all times;
- Cinemas and seated stadiums
- Children aged under 12
- Delivery people, tradespeople and cleaners
- A person with a medical exemption.
In an update to the state Friday morning, Premier Peter Gutwein said Tasmania’s vaccination rates remained on target to hit the 90% fully vaccinated rate by December 15 when our borders reopen.
“For 16 years and over we are at 94.1% having had at least the first dose and we’re at 87.8% fully vaccinated,” Mr Gutwein said.
“For 12 years and above 93% have had at least one dose and 86.28% are fully vaccinated.”
He also flagged what changes would come into place at Tasmania’s airports once borders reopen.
“All travellers entering our state will be required to complete a Tas e-Travel pass which will be available on the Tas e-Travel website,” he said.
“This will be an upgraded version of the pass that many people are already comfortably using and it’s in the final stages of testing … this will go live on the 12th of December and on completing the requirements a Tas e-Travel QR code for entry into Tasmania will be generated.”
Travellers aged five years and above who have spent time in a high-risk area (domestic and overseas) in the 14 days before their arrival in Tasmania will need to have a negative Covid test result within 72 hours before departure to Tasmania.
“The testing requirement will initially be in place for the first four weeks up until the 12th of January subject to public health advice,” Mr Gutwein said.
“All travellers will be required to carry proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test result whether that’s a digital vaccination certificate or a Covid-19 test result on SMS or some hard copy evidence.
“Those with approved medical exemptions will also need to have proof of this.”
The premier said there would be two queues at Tasmania’s airport gates — one for people coming from low risk areas and another for people coming from high risk areas.
“We will be opening an additional gate called the Marquee Gate at Hobart Airport to assist with the efficiency and effectiveness of the process and to mitigate bottlenecks,” Mr Gutwein said.
“We know that this will slow the process down a little bit but we believe by using technology and ensuring we reach out to travellers and as I say they pass through multiple gates people will understand what is needed to come in.
“For anyone caught flouting our rules they face an on-the-spot fine of up to $1557 and can be summonsed and charged ... to face court with penalties of up to six months in jail or a maximum fine of around $17,000.”
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