Pubs reopen, beauty salons back in business and travel allowed: restrictions lifted in Australia

Some of Australia’s tough coronavirus restrictions eased at the stroke of midnight on Sunday, bringing sweet relief across the nation on the first day of winter after almost two months of lockdown. 

Just four people out of the nation’s 478 active cases were in intensive care with coronavirus on Monday as restrictions were lifted to some degree in most states. 

In worst-hit New South Wales, pubs are now allowed to open their doors for up to 50 guests instead of 10, meaning its now financially viable for more establishments to open.

Drinkers flocked to the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel in Sydney from midnight as the inner-city pub welcomed back its patrons.

Gyms have opened in Queensland and can have up to 20 people. Pictured: Nicole Hall, 28, cleans weights at Club Bunker in Brisbane on Sunday ahead of today’s reopening 

After two months of lockdown, gyms in Brisbane are preparing to open on Monday for 20 people at a time. Pictured: Demi Bertoni, 29, cleaning Club Bunker in Brisbane

The Pyrmont Bridge Hotel (pictured) opened its doors to 50 people in the early hours of Monday morning after a two-month coronavirus break

These pubgoers were among the first to enter the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel after it opened its doors for the first time in two months 

By Monday morning, women were flocking to beauticians throughout New South Wales, eager for a post-lockdown makeover.  

Simi Kaur, who runs Indian Beauty Secrets at The Ponds Shopping Centre, in western Sydney, said she was expecting the line to be out the door within a few hours.

‘We’re already full booked today, because of social distancing we can’t have too many clients at one time,’

‘We’re going to be very, very busy, I expect there will be a line soon, so for the business it is very good after a really tough period. 

The Ibrows Experts salon at Stanhope Gardens shopping centre roared through 10 clients in the first two hours of business on Monday morning.

Owner Syed Abidi said they were booked out for much of the week – a relief after a tough two months.

Women have flocked back to their favourite makeover salons, with the lifting of restrictions meaning up to 20 people are now allowed inside a store. Pictured: Indian Beauty Secrets at The Ponds Shopping Centre

Advertisements

Simi Kaur, who runs Indian Beauty Secrets at The Ponds Shopping Centre, in western Sydney, said she was expecting the line to be out the door within a few hours

‘We’ve had customers calling us all the time over the past two months to ask when we’re opening again, so it’s good to finally be back in business,’ Mr Abidi said.

‘The response has been incredible, we’ve already served 10 people in the first two hours and we can only have two customers at a time.

‘The biggest thing though is still making sure all the measures are in place that the government says we need to have, so hygiene is a priority.’

The state’s 1,500 gyms, however, remain closed to the public, angering Fitness Australia, whose chief executive Barry Elvish called it ‘totally illogical’.

In Victoria, the state with the toughest restrictions, skate parks reopened and up to 20 people can gather for a party – outdoors or indoors – for the first time since the lockdown began in late March. 

Restaurants, cafes and pubs in Victoria can look forward to increasing this number to 50 from June 22 – less than a month away. 

The Pyrmont Bridge Hotel was among the first to reopen in the early hours of Monday morning when the 10-person limit for customers was increased to 50

Nicole Hall, 28, member at Club Bunker in Brisbane, cleans equipment in preparation for opening on Monday

A gym employee at Brisbane’s Club Bunker vacuums the floor ahead of it’s reopening on Monday

Victoria had an increase of four coronavirus cases on Sunday bringing the state’s total to 1649 late on Sunday night. 

Queensland has opened its state to unlimited internal travel including overnight stays although the borders remain shut. 

Cafes, restaurants, pubs and clubs in the Sunshine State can now host up to 20 people – with the reform brought forward from June 12. 

Bigger weddings and funerals of up to 50 people are now allowed in several states, and nail salons and gyms are now open in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. 

Pubgoers line up before being scanned in and heading to the ‘Sanitising Station’ at the Sydney pub

Pubgoers chat with security outside the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel in the early hours of Monday morning 

In Western Australia, almost normal conditions are now in place even though the state borders remain closed.

The national four square metre distancing rule will also be relaxed to two square metres by next Saturday, June 6.

Western Australia’s easing comes despite three new coronavirus cases – one of whom was a three-year-old child – bringing the state’s tally to 589 on Sunday night.

The state now has 28 active cases of which 20 came from the Al Kuwait live export ship stranded in Fremantle.

Freedom: skate parks officially reopened to the public in Victoria today as coronavirus restrictions eased. Pictured: Knox Skate & BMX Park, Melbourne, Victoria on May 26

Pictured: the live export ship Al Kuwait stranded in Fremantle, WA. The coronavirus-infected ship is the source of 20 of the state’s 28 active cases, as the state eases restrictions

More than six million of an estimated 16 million people with smartphones have downloaded the federal government’s COVIDSafe tracing app since it was launched on April 26, helping authorities trace contacts of any diagnosed cases. 

The Federal Health Department said on Sunday night it had not changed its stance on not recommending face masks in public despite recent studies showing they cut transmission rates, as the rate of community transmission of coronavirus is low.

Nationwide the coronavirus tally rose by 10 to 7195 late on Sunday night with 103 people dead, 478 active cases and 6614 patients recovered. 

Globally more than six million cases were confirmed as of early on Monday morning with 371,860 dead, more than three million sick and almost three million recovered. 

Here’s the latest on the virus in your state and the restrictions that were lifted today.   

Customers lining up at the sanitising station to enter the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel in Sydney just after midnight on Monday morning. The pub reopened after a two-month closure as restrictions eased allowing 50 people in. Large venues can fit more if they have separate areas

New South Wales

Travel around NSW is now unrestricted, so visits to friends out of town and camping holidays are open without the need to exploit a loophole.

You can also travel to Victoria and back as unlike other states there are no travel restrictions.

Pubs, cafes, and restaurants have been open for a couple of weeks with 10 customers but are now able to host 50.

Most chose to remain closed rather than open for just 10 patrons as it was not profitable, but some watering holes were willing to reopen for 50 last night. 

At the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel, which reopened in the early hours of Monday after a two-month break, customers  lined up to walk through a sanitising station before splitting up: 17 guests downstairs and 33 upstairs to make the total of 50 work with the physical distancing rules. 

In Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, couples can now have up to 20 guests at their weddings. (Pictured: A couple at Observatory Hill, Sydney, on May 19)

Many businesses, especially pubs and bars, had stayed shut because 10 people wasn’t enough to turn a profit have opened.

Some may even be able to admit 500 people if they have enough separate bars and restaurants in the same complex, such as a big RSL. 

A venue’ patron capacity can increase depending on the number of restaurants and cafes inside.

So a venue with three restaurants and two cafes, for example, can admit up to 250, provided they can maintain the one patron per four square metre rule.

The number is capped at 500, though hotel associations are negotiating to increase that figure for venues that can safely accommodate it. 

Residents in New South Wales can now get a pamper session as beauty salons have reopened

Beauty salons and other personal care businesses can open for 10 customers but must remove their magazines from waiting rooms. Massage and tattoo parlours are still closed.

Museums, galleries, zoos, aquariums and libraries can now reopen but cinemas, theatres and concert halls are still closed.

All of the above are for now subject to the four square metre rule, but in coming weeks this will likely be relaxed to two metres as it is in Western Australia.

However, there is strangely no change to the number of people allowed to meet outside a venue as home visits are capped at five people and 10 outdoors. 

Controversially, there is no timeframe yet for gyms to reopen so they will remain shut for the forseeable future.

Weddings can have 20 guests, funerals 50, and churches 50 – not including staff necessary to put on the service. 

Public school students returned to class on Monday and non-essential regional travel will be allowed from next week.

Workers have been gradually returning to their offices however public transport has a reduced capacity to cope with them due to social distancing requirements.

A maximum of 12 passengers are allowed on buses while trains are limited to 32 people per carriage and up to 45 people are allowed on ferries. 

Before the pandemic, more than 900,000 school students used the transport network to get to school and 110,000 of those caught public transport, Nine News reported.

Moore Park has been turrned into a temporary parking hub for workers to leave their cars as an alternative to public transport.

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance warned stations could be closed if they became too busy, while staff would monitor social distancing.

Victoria

Australia’s most locked down state is ahead of NSW with gatherings of up to 20 people allowed from today including holidays and parties.

The new round of easing allows community facilities and businesses to reopen including libraries, community centres, markets, beauty parlours and tattoo studios. 

Students from kindergarten to grade two, years 11 and 12, and those in specialist schools have already returned to class.  

Businesses have to adhere to strict social distancing rules which include a staying 1.5m apart and having four square metres of space per person.

Playgrounds, skateparks, outdoor gym equipment, museums, drive-in cinemas, zoos and theme parks are all now open to the public, subject to distancing requirements. 

Victoria is easing to Stage Two lockdown on June 1 allowing gatherings of up to 20 people. Pictured: Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia

Camping grounds and caravan parks have opened alongside hotels, but the use of communal bathrooms and kitchens is still banned.

These have a limit of 20 people, the same as cafes, bistros and restaurants which can now reopen. 

Art galleries and museums can also now open for a maximum of 20 people along with zoos and outdoor amusement parks.

Weddings can have 20 guests, plus the celebrant and couple, and up to 50 people allowed at a funeral in addition to the staff conducting it.

Queensland

Queensland is ahead of both NSW and Victoria in reopening, and brought forward further cuts to restrictions by almost two weeks. 

Gatherings of 20 people are now allowed outside and inside, and all businesses that are open can have 20 customers.  

These include playgrounds, skate parks, outdoor and indoor gyms, health clubs, yoga studios, Museums, galleries, libraries, amusement parks, zoos and arcades.

Queensland’s tourism industry will benefit as residents of the Sunshine State can now travel anywhere in the state they want. Pictured: a turtle at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef

Restaurants, cafes, pubs, RSL and other clubs, hotels, casinos, cinemas, theatres, auditoriums, arenas, concert venues and stadiums are also allowed more  people.

Beauty, nail and tanning salons, tattoo parlours, and spas can also have up to 20 customers.

However, as with the 10-customer limit in much of Australia, many businesses may choose to stay shut as that is not enough people to stay profitable. 

Open homes and auctions and places of worship are also now allowed 20 people. 

Internal travel is now free but the state borders will remain firmly closed despite attacks on the policy from the tourism sector and the NSW Government.  

The border closures are set for review at the end of this month however Ms Palaszczuk has said it was likely they would remain closed until September.   

Tourism bodies from Cairns, the Whitsundays, Mackay and Townsville have called for a North Queensland travel bubble of free movement to help the tourism industry. 

Western Australia 

Western Australia has already reopened almost all internal travel.

The Kimberley region, parts of the East Pilbara and the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku remain off limits to protect vulnerable remote indigenous communities.

The areas, including the tourism hotspot Broome, have been declared federal biosecurity areas.

The state government has applied to the Commonwealth to have the declarations lifted on June 5, a fortnight earlier than anticipated. 

Accommodation and restaurant bookings were immediately snapped up when most regional borders were reopened and the dining patron limit was doubled to 20 last week, but the state’s north and Goldfields region remained closed to Perth residents.

Northern tourism businesses rely on travellers from the south seeking warmer climes during winter. 

From June 6, anywhere that is open will be allowed 100 patrons, so most pubs and restaurants will be allowed to open at full capacity.

This is further aided by the four metre rule being halved to two metres, in a promising sign for the future for the rest of the country.

The hundreds customer limit will apply to gyms and fitness classes, playgrounds, skate parks, and outdoor gym equipment.

Also to beauty services, nail, tanning and waxing salons, personal-care services, spas and saunas, galleries, museums, theatres, cinemas and concert venues, zoos, amusement parks and arcades.

Venues with divided spaces can have up to 300 customers, which will greatly assist large pubs with multiple floors. 

Full contact sport and training will also finally be back on. 

However, the state government remains adamant the interstate border will remain closed for months – despite opposition from medical experts.

 Pictured: Cable Beach, Broome in The Kimberley region of WA. The Kimberley has been declared a federal biosecurity area to protect remote Aboriginal communities and parts of it will remain closed while other internal state travel restrictions are eased ahead of June 1

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall (pictured left) announced the guidelines for the easing of restrictions on Monday

South Australia

Venues including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes are now able to host up to 80 customers.

They must remain in groups of 20 and stay in discrete rooms within the business. Pubs may also serve alcohol without food – but only to seated patrons. 

Cinemas, indoor fitness centres, beauty parlours, theatres, galleries and museums across South Australia can all open as well, but are limited to 10 patrons.  

Rules allowing only one person per four square metres, and 1.5-metre social distancing, remain in place. 

Funerals will be able to host up to 50 mourners, with 20 inside and 30 outside.

Businesses must create coronavirus safety plans and produce them on request.

Under the eased restrictions, non-contact outdoor sport is now able to resume while competition for outdoor contact sports can resume from June 25.

Some restrictions have eased in Tasmania. Returning Tasmanians can to isolate at home for 14 days while others have to quarantine at a hotel. Pictured: Hobart Airport, March 19

Tasmania

Tasmania doesn’t have its next round of relaxed restrictions until June 15, and even then businesses will be limited to just 20 customers.

This is in contrast to most other states that will by then have opened their economies up much further and be contemplating even fewer restrictions. 

ACT

Businesses, including gyms, can now have 20 people at a time with this expected to be raised to 50 on June 15.

Cinemas, amusement parks and play centres are also allowed to reopen now.

Pictured: Bugler plays the Last Post at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, April 25. Cultural institutions are expected to open in the ACT for up to 20 people from Saturday

Northern Territory

Interstate borders remain closed, blocking travellers from driving in from Queensland, WA and South Australia.

However, internal travel restrictions within the NT will be lifted on June 5, allowing travel to remote areas and Aboriginal communities. 

The NT Government is urging NT residents to spend on local holidays to help out tour operators.

Many internal restrictions have already been eased in the NT with beauty salons and gyms open already.

From June 5 many more restrictions will come off and Territorians can even go to a bar without consuming food.

They will also be allowed to go to nightclubs, cinemas, theatres, concert or music halls and other approved entertainment venues. 

Amusement venues, community centres and play centres will also open.

Pictured: East Arnhem Land dancers perform at Mutitjulu near Uluru. The Biosecurity Act preventing travel to remote indigenous communities is to be removed 2 weeks early