ACT non-essential retail outlets will be reopening from Friday 22 October when stores will be allowed to operate under a one person per four square metre rule.
ACT businesses providing essential retail – hardware, pet stores, etc., – operating under a click-and-collect or click-and-deliver model can also reopen their doors from this Friday at one per four square metres.
The ACT Government earlier this week made the announcement that non-essential retail stores would be reopening from 11.59pm Thursday 21 October; with that step on the roadmap out of lockdown originally slated for 29 October.
Owner of Braddon plant store Green Vine, Irene Donoghoe, told Canberra Daily it will be a relief to welcome customers back in as it’s been difficult for “a lot of businesses” to operate online only.
“It will be nice to be able to offer our services and products in person again, which is what we’ve always done best,” she said.
Under the one person per four square metre rule, Ms Donoghoe will be able to welcome up to eight customers in her store at once.
“That’ll make things a lot safer for people to be able to manoeuvre around,” she said.
Being in the business of selling plants, where being able to physically inspect the product before purchase is vital, Ms Donoghoe said reopening to customers will be a boon.
“We’ll finally be able to have people choose their own plants,” she said. “With things like plants, it’s quite difficult to take photos and show what they’re like as every single one is different.
“Just allowing people to browse properly is very different from looking at a screen; a lot of our customers are excited to be able to see things in person again.”
The move followed a change to ACT/NSW border restrictions over the weekend that meant fully vaccinated Canberrans were theoretically allowed to cross the border to Queanbeyan and shop at retailers there while equivalent Canberra stores remained closed.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr, however, put the announcement down to the ACT becoming the first Australian jurisdiction to have double-vaccinated 80 per cent of its population aged 12 and up.
“This is not a Kmart Queanbeyan issue; it’s around our vaccination and our entire settings within the ACT,” Mr Barr said.
Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee said reopening ACT retail stores is a “common sense decision” that should have been implemented as soon as the cross-border travel arrangements were amended on Saturday morning.
“This is welcome news for Canberra businesses that sees sensible changes in the way they are able to trade, however, these changes should have come into effect when the cross-border travel arrangements were amended last week,” Ms Lee said.
“There is no reason that our retail businesses could not have opened up safely when restaurants, bars, gyms and personal care services reopened for customers last week.”
As already announced, the ACT’s public health restrictions are set to again ease further from 29 October.
Capacity limits will increase across several industries including hospitality and major events, while food courts in the ACT will also reopen under a one per four square metre model.
Additionally, face masks will no longer be mandatory outdoors but will continue to be required indoors.
Subject to the public health risk at the time, the ACT will remove the COVID-Affected Area declaration across NSW from 1 November. This means that ACT residents will not have quarantine when they return to the Territory from any part of NSW – including Greater Sydney.
This aligns with the decision from the NSW Government to allow travel from Greater Sydney into their regional areas from 1 November. Similar to the arrangements the ACT had in place throughout most of this year, the ACT will move to an individual local government area (LGA) assessment of public health risk from 1 November.
The ACT Government will also align mandatory quarantine requirements for people arriving from overseas with NSW from 1 November.
The Government is continuing to work on the implementation of baseline level public health safety measures (PHSM) in late November / early December. This includes the implementation of one per two square metre density limits in hospitality settings.
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