Sarah Courtney,Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events
As we progress towards reopening our borders on December 15, I welcome the Premier's announcement today that Public Health has reviewed our events framework and the rules and limits around dancing and standing drinking.
As we move towards the reopening of our borders, I'm pleased that the current restrictions on patron caps for indoor (currently 100 patrons) and outdoor drinking (currently 250 patrons) and dancing will be lifted on the basis that patrons and staff are fully vaccinated. This will apply for patrons from 6 December and for staff from 15 December.
For events, this means that if you have an approved limit of 5,000 people, every one of those attending can stand up and drink or dance, so long as patrons and staff are fully vaccinated.
For pubs and clubs, the caps on dancing and stand-up drinking will be lifted for both indoors and outdoors, as long as patrons and also staff are fully vaccinated. The two square metre rule will continue to apply.
This does not apply to restaurants or pubs where there are sit-down meals only, rather than dancing and limited stand-up drinking.
The Tasmanian Government has followed Public Health advice since the start of the pandemic and our approach has been focused on keeping Tasmanians safe.
As we head into summer and reopen our borders, I know that this announcement today will provide event organisers and the hospitality sector with further optimism and certainty.
We know that COVID-19 has presented many challenges and uncertainties for our tourism, hospitality, and events sector and I encourage everyone to get out and about, and importantly follow the rules, so we can all safely enjoy our world-class produce and unique homegrown events over the summer period.
