Customers will be encouraged to come and go swiftly at essential businesses in the ACT with lockdown compliance being bolstered following reports of people inappropriately loitering around retail stores.
Businesses will be asked to take reasonable steps to ensure that customers who are entering their premises are there for essential reasons only and are minimising their time in the community.
In announcing the rules, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said “Canberrans have been amazing, by and large”, but noted a couple of “pressure points” relating to individuals and groups hanging around retail outlets.
“Most businesses are having to do a lot of hard work to move people on,” Mr Barr said.
“Our risk points right now are hanging around supermarkets and hardware stores … Browsing at a hardware store is not an essential activity.”
ACT Policing will be on hand to aid businesses in managing the issue of loitering or customers browsing excessively.
The ACT’s Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said Canberrans have been “extremely compliant”, although a few issues of people not wearing masks are starting to emerge.
Having received numerous calls from retailers in the last week in relation to loitering, CPO Gaughan said local businesses have been working with ACT Policing in a “fantastic way”.
“It’s the retailers that have been asking us to provide clarity,” he said.
“Businesses have been very good in reporting to police issues that concern them; they want to stay open.”
As far as ongoing enforcement of lockdown compliance is concerned, CPO Gaughan said the public can expect “fair application of the law”, maintaining an education-first approach.
“We’ve been very, very careful in relation to how we’ve enforced the law,” he said.
“If we see people blatantly ignoring the health direction, we’ll be issuing fines … If we need to fine people, we will.”
If people are caught loitering by police, they face a $1,000 fine for breaching a health order if deemed appropriate. Not wearing a face mask outside the home in the ACT incurs a $200 on-the-spot fine except during rigorous exercise.
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