Government to give hospitality venues just several hours notice on restrictions: Hospitality NT
The peak body representing the NT hospitality industry has lashed the Territory government for not providing more certainty as to whether Covid-19 restrictions would be eased today, with venues only given a few hours notice.
Northern Territory
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EAGER businesses will be left in the dark until the last minute as to whether they can reopen, as the government holds off revealing whether Covid-19 restrictions will be eased.
The NT government still hasn’t said whether the mask mandate will be eased, despite hospitality venues urging officials to provide clarity on Tuesday.
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The NT News understands Chief Minister Michael Gunner will provide just hours notice as to whether restrictions will be eased on Friday, exactly a week after the Top End and Alice Springs came out of lockdown.
But the decision not to provide more advanced warning has been lashed by Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce, who said venues were being left in limbo.
“It’s frustrating,” Mr Bruce said.
“There are musicians and performers booked from interstate to arrive up here.”
“By Tuesday, once it had been clear and made public that everyone who needed to be in isolation was in isolation and had returned negative tests, coupled with sewage testing … we asked the government to consider making clear what 1pm Friday would look like by Wednesday.”
Mr Bruce said uncertainty over restrictions had negatively impacted hospitality businesses in the Territory.
“It’s been very subdued trade in Darwin and Alice Springs since the reopening,” he said.
“Locals are staying away from the on-and-off again face masking and waiting for this weekend.”
Mr Bruce said businesses understood Covid-19 lockdowns could happen at short notice, but wanted the NT government to provide a clearer road map out of restrictions.
“We understand that tomorrow is not the end of it – things can change very rapidly in the future – that’s not an excuse to keep the community in the dark.”
Small Business Minister Paul Kirby has defended the decision to reserve the announcement until Friday, saying the government needed to be
“We’ve learned over the last couple of weeks that Covid moves really really quickly,” Mr Kirby said.
“As much as we would desperately love to give businesses as much time to prepare … we obviously acknowledged to people last week that we’d make an announcement and the (chief health officer) would make an announcement on Friday.”
“We’re hoping that if everybody continues to do the right thing and we stay at zero cases, there’ll be some good news for everyone (on Friday).”
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