Dear Members,
New South Wales
Today the NSW Government announced that anyone in NSW who has been in the Cairns or Yarrabah local government areas (LGAs) in Queensland since 4 pm Sunday 8 August must stay at home and only leave their residence with a reasonable excuse. Reasonable excuses include shopping, medical care, caregiving, outdoor exercise with a member of your household or one other person, and work or education if you cannot do it from home. A person who has been in Cairns or Yarrabah must comply with the stay-at-home rules for 14 days since they were last in an affected LGA, or until the notice is revoked. Stay-at-home requirements have now been lifted for anyone who has been in Brisbane City, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Logan City, Noosa Shire Council, Redland City, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Somerset Regional Council, and Sunshine Coast Regional Council since Wednesday 21 July. Everyone in NSW, however, including those in the northern NSW border regions and those areas in NSW along the Victorian border, must continue to comply with all relevant public health orders that are in place in NSW.
Anyone arriving from Queensland, regardless of whether they’ve been in Cairns or Yarrabah, must still fill out a declaration form. The declaration form is available on the Service NSW website and can be completed in the 24-hour period before entering NSW or on arrival. The information gathered via the travel declarations is vital in allowing NSW Health to contact travellers if necessary. People entering NSW who have been in Victoria in the last 14 days must also complete a declaration form. Victoria remains an area of concern and the stay-at-home rules apply to anyone who has been in Victoria since Thursday 5 August, with an exemption in place in relation to the border region. People entering NSW who have been in South Australia in the last 14 days are no longer required to complete a declaration form, as it is no longer an affected area.
The NSW Government has also announced that new restrictions will be introduced for the Tamworth Local Government Area, from 5 pm today, 9 August until 12.01 am Tuesday 16 August.
Victoria
The Victorian Government today announced that the lockdown in regional Victoria will lift from 11:59 pm tonight. From 11:59 pm tonight the five reasons to leave the home can be removed in regional Victoria and there will be no limit on the distance regional Victorians can travel from home. However, people will only be able to travel to Melbourne for a permitted reason and you must follow the Melbourne restrictions once there. Key points
- Retail can also open and personal services such as beauty and tattooing can resume. Face masks can be removed where required for the service to be performed.
- While stay-at-home orders remain in metropolitan Melbourne, we need to ensure the virus does not travel into regional Victoria. Businesses that are open in regional Victoria but closed in Melbourne – restaurants for dine-in service or beauty for example – must check the IDs of everyone they serve.
The full list of updated restrictions for regional Victoria are available via 210809 – Restriction Changes (1).pdf
South Australia
South Australia has closed its border to the entire state of Queensland, following an updated travel direction. SA has prohibited travellers from entering the state unless they have an exemption or are essential travellers. SA residents are allowed to return home but must quarantine for 14 days. An updated cross-border travel direction was issued by SA Police at 2.30 pm on Sunday. The blanket border ban on arrivals from Queensland comes after the detection of a Covid case in Cairns. More information here
Yours sincerely,
Brendan Tohill | Chief Executive Officer
VANA – Victorian Authorised Newsagents Association
NLNA – National Lotteries Newsagents Association