Queensland cafes, restaurants may reopen by June in ambitious plan

One state’s restaurants and cafes could be lifted out of coronavirus lockdown by next month, with the Premier calling the plan to reopen “ambitious”.

The Queensland Government has set its sights on June to lift the state’s restaurants, pubs and cafes out of lockdown and reopen them, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk calling the target “ambitious”.

“I think June is a good, ambitious target,” she told reporters this morning, adding she’d be speaking to representative associations this week.

“I can’t say whether it’s early June or late June but I’m going to have those discussions, but as (chief health officer) Dr Young has said we’ve got to take these things a couple of weeks at a time, we can’t do it all at once.”

Ms Palaszczuk said a recovery road map for businesses would be released in the “next week or two”, with National Cabinet looking at those levels of restrictions.

“We have to put in place COVID-safe plans so I’ve been once again getting all the health advice as well, these are very big decisions everyone and we’ve got to get the health advice and we’ve got to make sure we get it right and then of course we’ll be announcing our plan.”

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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Queensland’s restaurants, pubs and cafes could reopen as soon as June. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images

Restaurant and Catering Australia chief executive Wes Lambert said he was hoping for a reopening within weeks, with the association proposing guidelines like a register of guests, tables and chairs being cleaned after each patron, disposable menus and disposable cutlery to minimise risk of virus spread.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that following these guidelines we’ll be able to get restaurants open by June,” Mr Lambert told SmartCompany.

“We believe trialling guidelines to ensure the safety of patrons is a good way for premiers to reopen the economy in the safest possible way.”

Australia’s coronavirus outbreak escalated in March, forcing hospitality businesses to shut their doors and significantly reducing customer numbers for those places allowed to continue trading. While restaurants and cafes have, under Federal Government restrictions, been allowed to operate under takeaway conditions, pubs were shut down completely.

Over the weekend, Queenslanders took their first steps back to normal life with the easing of some virus measures, enabling them to have picnics and go on drives. National parks reopened, shopping for non-essential items was again permitted, and residents are now allowed recreational use of their motorbike, jet ski or boat.

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State chief health officer Jeannette Young said despite the number of infections decreasing, people needed to exercise “a lot of common sense”.

“People have to use a lot of common sense, that where they go, they need to look around and think, ‘is this actually safe? Have we got too many people here?’.”

Whether further restrictions are wound back will depend on what National Cabinet decides in a meeting this Friday, and if there is a surge in cases as a result of freedoms already granted.

If restaurants, pubs and cafes do reopen in Queensland in June, the state will join the Northern Territory – where hospitality businesses are expected to come out of lockdown on May 15.

Venues wanting to open their doors again will need to submit a “simple COVID-19 safety plan checklist”, Chief Minister Michael Gunner explained, to prove they’ll operate within physical distancing and hygiene guidelines.