The new rule for attending music festivals has been adjusted to now allow 25% attendance at outdoor venues of up to 40,000 capacity.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the easing of restrictions today adding that all events must be ticketed and the audience seated.
While the easing of restrictions for music events are a step in the right direction the reality is that there are no major events planned until September by which stage more easing of restrictions will have happened, pending a second wave of the coronavirus.
With immediate events already cancelled or postponed, it would be impossible to put on a music festival in coming months, so todays easing is unlikely to impact with any promotor.
The expectation is that changes will happen rapidly in coming months. Already New South Wales has greenlighted the Deni Ute Muster for 2 and 3 October. That event is expected to have a crowd of up to 15,000 with camping permitted.
Victoria’s Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton has likewise identified a major easing of restrictions before October allowing Red Hot Summer in Ballarat to go ahead.
Of course, all of this is caveated with “if we stay on the same trajectory”.
Under today’s announcement, venues with capacity larger than 40,000 will not be permitted to have an audience at this stage. Also nightclubs are still forbidden from operating with punters.
Morrison says that the situation for venues over 40,000 capacity will be reviewed in coming weeks and then it would be up to the Chief Medical Officer in each state to decide.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said that Australia is in great shape for further easing of restrictions. Professor Murphy announced today that there have only been 38 new cases of coronavirus across Australia in the past week and more than half of those came from returning overseas travelers.
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