The Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced some new rules which will come into force on Wednesday night:
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- "Stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary to go out".
- He said you can go out and exercise with your partner, for instance, but you can not go outside and participate in the community.
- No house parties, large family gatherings, one-year-old birthday parties. Some of these things may become an offence.
- You can go to work if you cannot work from home. Working from home is strongly encouraged.
- Visits to your premises should be kept to a minimum and with very small numbers of guests
- Outdoors, do not congregate together in groups.
- Overseas travel is now completely banned for Australians under biosecurity measures.
- Schools will stay open, as announced on Sunday, but circumstances will potentially change after the holidays. They will reopen after the school holidays for essential workers, at this stage.
He also clarified the definition of an essential worker
"Everyone who has a job is an essential worker," he said.
This could be a nurse, a teacher, a doctor, a public servant, people stacking shelves, people earning money in their family, he said, in an address to the nation on Tuesday night.
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"These are heartbreaking events in our nation's history and story," he said, announcing a new set of restrictions to businesses and services (see below).
"We are not unconscious of the real impacts these measures are having on the family lives of Australians. It is going to be an incredibly difficult time."
Services to be affected (this includes some already announced on Sunday)
- Cafes and restaurants, takeaway only can continue.
- Food courts in shopping centre not allowed to continue, but takeaway can continue. Shopping centres remain open.
- Auction houses can't continue
- Real estate auctions and open house cannot continue
- Outdoor and indoor markets will be addressed in specific states and territories' rules
- Personal services where there is a lot of contact - beauty, tanning, waxing, nails, tattoos, spa and massage are not allowed. This ban excludes health related services like physio, therapy.
- Hairdressers and barbers can provide services, but only for 30 minutes and preferably less
- Cinemas, clubs, sports bars, night clubs, gaming, gambing, adult entertainment remain banned
- Concert arenas, auditoriums and stadiums not allowed
- Amusement parks, arcades to be closed.
- Play centres, indoor and outdoors must be closed
- Health, yoga, wellness, gyms must be closed
- Bootcamps and personal training outdoors must be limited to 10 people and maintain social distancing
- Social sporting based activities - large groups gathering together to play soccer for example - not allowed.
- Galleries, museums, libraries, youth centres, local government non-essentials, halls, clubs, RSLs, PCYCs must be closed
- Places of worship remain closed.
- Weddings can be conducted if it is just couple, celebrant and witnesses. There must be no more than 5 people and four square metre rule. There are to be no large gathering for weddings
- Sadly also, funerals can have not more than 10 persons, the prime minister said. "This will be very difficult," he said.