Australia’s footy and festival crowds set to return

Indoor gatherings would no longer be restricted to 100 people under the new rules, expected to come into force next month.
 
States and territories are expected to announce individual time frames for the agreed changes, which come after the national cabinet met on Friday 12 June, according to the ABC.
 
The move comes as Australia registers only a trickle of new cases, with four in Victoria, three in New South Wales and one in Queensland. Some of these are understood to be travellers in quarantine.
 
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the states are working on ways to allow stadiums with a capacity of up to 40,000 to host crowds of up to 10,000 – a move which could restart many of Australia’s sporting codes and major arts and music festivals.
 
Venues would only be able to fill up to 25% of their capacity, however, while rules for larger venues are still being hashed out.
 
‘It would have to be a large, open area. There would need to be seats at the appropriate distance. It would need to be ticketed, so people would be able to understand who was in attendance at that event,’ Prime Minister Morrison said.
 
‘When you’re up above 40,000, you’ve got more than 10,000 people going to a gathering, that has implications for the egress and access of and to those premises, public transport crushes, all those sorts of things,’ he said.
 
‘That will require much more significant work.’
 
Outdoor festivals will be back on if they offer seating, while indoor gatherings will no longer have limits to numbers but rather a requirement for four square metres of space per person.
 
These moves are aimed at allowing weddings and funerals to be limited only by the venue size.
 
Nightclubs are to remain shut.
 
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