Western Australia’s hospitality industry will soon be back in business following strong and decisive national leadership from WA Premier Mark McGowan, with the state’s hotels, pubs, restaurants, bars and taverns now leading the nation on the road to recovery.
AHA(WA) CEO Bradley Woods has welcomed the announcement by the Premier that the WA Government will substantially relax the COVID-19 restrictions from Saturday 6 June, resulting in many hospitality venues re-opening their doors and significantly lifting their patron capacity.
“This is a critical milestone for WA’s hospitality industry in the battle against COVID-19 and will be celebrated by hospitality operators and staff across the state,” Mr Woods said.
“The ability for venues to now have up to 100 patrons per separate area or room with a maximum capacity of 300 and the removal of the one in 4sqm of floor space restriction, is a significant shift in the ability of venues to re-open and operate.”
“The halving of the capacity formula to now require 2 square metres per patron will allow many more venues to open.”
“Premier McGowan has today demonstrated strong leadership in arriving at a solution that is tailored to WA’s current situation with respect to COVID-19, recognising our ability to re-open in a prepared, safe and responsible way.”
“The AHA has worked with the State Government every day since venues restrictions were announced to ensure that we could get up and running as soon as possible – today marks a major milestone that is the culmination of months of collaboration and work.”
“Removing the requirement for pubs, bars and taverns to only provide alcohol with a meal will be warmly welcomed by both venues and the community.”
“WA’s hospitality industry has paid a heavy financial price to keep Western Australians safe and as they re-open they do so in a way that prioritises patron safety, with new hygiene training, social distancing requirements and contact tracing protocols in place.”
“What is most important now is that venues are well supported by the local community – the road to recovery ahead is going to be a long one and it is now more crucial than ever that Western Australians get out and support their local venues.”
