Venue issued with warning while another forced to close

A DARWIN venue has been issued with a written warning by police after failing to abide by coronavirus rules while another was forced to close on Friday night

A Darwin venue has been closed by police for repeatedly ignoring COVID-19 rules. Picture: iSTOCK

A DARWIN venue has been issued with a written warning by police after failing to abide by coronavirus rules.

NT Police Acting Commander Shaun Gill said another venue, Beaver Brewery in Coconut Grove, was forced to close on Friday after a large group of people arrived unexpectedly.

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“The one that was really busy actually had a plan in place and a large crowd attended on very short notice and they were unable to deal with the public,” he said.

He said it was “to their credit” that the restaurant closed its doors.

He would not name the venues, despite police last week naming Six Tanks and Lola’s Pergola as venues which had struggled to abide by stage two restrictions rules on the opening night.

However, a staff member of Beaver Brewery confirmed they chose to close their doors just after 7pm.

A/Cmdr Gill did say he did not believe the same two venues were affected last night.

Acting Commander Shaun Gill providing an update on venues and COVID-19 restrictions.

Posted by The NT News on Friday, 22 May 2020

A/Cmdr Gill said there were clear directions to businesses on the rules and the fine was $5000 if they didn’t comply.

So far no venue has been issued with a fine.

“The onus is on individuals and the onus is on businesses,” he said.

“People need to be reminded that we’re still coming out of quite a serious event. We’re only in the early stages of coming out of some serious restrictions and so we want businesses and individuals to abide by what’s going on. The ramifications are we can end up where we were before.”

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A/Cmdr Gill also reinforced the 10-person per table rule.

He said there could be up to 10 people seated at one table, who could only stay for two hours.

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He said he believed the rule had been well publicised however patrons at venues on Friday night were unaware of the rule.