On Monday 18th October, The Queensland State Government announced it’s roadmap towards re-opening the state for visitors from both interstate and overseas.
As part of the announcement Deputy Premier Steven Miles has announced that pressure will be placed on Queensland Businesses outlining that businesses who adopt a “vaccinated only” policy will be rewarded with eased restrictions.
“We expect that there will be some settings and venues that decide to be vaccinated only and in return they will have eased restrictions. There will be other freedoms that are only available to people who have been vaccinated. When the vaccine arrived, we said it was the beginning of the end and this is a plan to finish vaccinating Queenslanders,” said Deputy Premier Steven Miles.
Queensland State Government revealed that going off the states current rate of vaccination uptake, Queensland should reach the 80 percent double dose target by Friday 17th December and furthermore reach 70 percent double dosed by Friday 19th November.
Once Queensland reaches the 80 percent double dosed milestone, vaccinated travellers from interstate hotspots will be allowed to enter the state without needing to quarantine.
“There are venues that you can go to now if you’re unvaccinated that you won’t be able to go to after 17th December. If you want to continue to go to those venues and businesses that may choose to be vaccinated only, then get one now. Finally, if you want it to be sooner than December 17, get vaccinated now. And if we meet those targets sooner, we’ll be to bring it forward,” said Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles.
Echoing the words of the Deputy Premier, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath emphasised that only people who have had both doses of the covid-19 vaccine will be able to enjoy Queensland’s eased travel rules in December.
Yvette D’Ath says that Queensland’s ability to successfully manage the virus means that the state will soon be ready to re-open to the rest of Australia.
“We will allow people to travel interstate and come back without quarantining if you are fully vaccinated. In NSW, when their outbreak happened on 16 June, only four percent of the population was fully vaccinated. In Victoria, when their outbreak happened, recently, they were only 20 percent fully vaccinated. We are already over 50 percent fully vaccinated,” said Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said that the dates outlined in the reopening plan could be brought forward if vaccination rates rise faster than the rate that is currently anticipated.
Small Businesses Are Concerned About Having Confrontations with Unvaccinated Customers
Businesses across covid-19 ravaged parts of New South Wales and Victoria are looking forward to being able to open to more customers when the states that reach their double vaccination targets.
Despite the impending excitement there is also fears of confrontations that will occur with unvaccinated customers who will ultimately be refused entry into their stores.
Business owners in the hospitality industry are still trying to decide what is the best way to deal with unvaccinated customers and how they can get their employees to communicate with these customers will most likely be refused entry.
The NSW Government is currently working on the creation of vaccination passports which will be linked into the QR Code system when a person signs into a venue. This means their immunisation status will be displayed, therefore allowing the patron entry if they have been fully vaccinated.
The government is also working on the relevant legislation and public health order that will underpin everything and make it easier for businesses to have intense conversations with customers.
Business owners are planning to tell unvaccinated customers that “there is a law that will make the business and their management team liable if they are let onto the premises. Don’t blame the business, blame the government as the situation is out of the business owners’ controls”.
By refusing to serve people who haven’t taken the covid-19 vaccination the business could tell the customer that they are simply following the rules the same way a bottle shop is unable to legally serve a customer who is under the 18 of age.