Why would they bother? Fears wedding venues WON'T reopen even as COVID-19 restrictions are eased with crowd caps making it hard to pay the electricity bill
- Restaurants, pubs, cafes in NSW allowed to have 10 customers from Friday
- Weddings will also be restricted to 10 guests which threatens function centres
- Michael Yabsley, who runs Wombat Hollow catering venue, worried about rules
- He is also a former NSW Liberal tourism minister - from same party as premier
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Many businesses may not reopen even as coronavirus restrictions are eased across Australia, fuelling fears unemployment will surge to levels unseen for almost 90 years.
From Friday, restaurants, pubs and cafes in New South Wales will be allowed to have 10 dine-in patrons provided they stayed at the table and didn't mingle at the bar.
Weddings will also be allowed to have 10 guests.
This is an improvement on March public health rules, which limited nuptials to a total of five people including the celebrant.
Venue owners, however, say the easing of rules won't do enough to help function centres that host weddings.
From Friday, weddings will be allowed provided there are only 10 guests - an improvement on March rules which restricted nuptials to five people including the celebrant. Pictured is a wedding at Kirribilli on Sydney's lower north shore on March 28, 2020
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Michael Yabsley, a former NSW Liberal tourism minister who runs the Wombat Hollow catering venue in the Southern Highlands south of Sydney, said many businesses would not reopen with these rules.
'We would not contemplate weddings for ten,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
'Unless you had some very, very small venue, I can't imagine who would.
'You wouldn't be able to cover the electricity bill.'
Mr Yabsley, who hails from the same political party as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, said other function centre owners had expressed similar views to him.
'I am yet to speak to anyone who believes that doing something for ten patrons is actually going to work,' he said.
'Some of them are doing it because it's just a way of getting the word out that they're still existence.
From Friday, restaurants, pubs and cafes in New South Wales will be allowed to accept 10 patrons through their doors. Once inside, they are only allowed to stay if they sit down at a table and don't mingle around the bar.
'Others are saying, "I'll just stick with the takeaway business" and others are remaining shut and others will not come out the other side - that's certainly apparent from a bit of a straw poll I've done around the place.'
The Australian Hotels Association's NSW director of liquor and policing John Green hinted some pubs would be reluctant to reopen their doors, beyond serving takeaway food.
'While some larger venues in particular may not find it economically viable to re-open at the moment, we value having the opportunity to open our doors once again to our communities across NSW,' he said.
Funerals from tomorrow will be allowed to have 20 people inside, up from 10 now, but 30 mourners will be allowed to gather outside.
Australian Funeral Directors Association spokeswoman Helen McCombie said it was too early to predict how mourners would react to the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
In April, 594,300 Australians either lost their job or gave up looking for one, as the national unemployment rate surged from 5.2 per cent in March to a five-year high of 6.2 per cent.
Underemployment soared by 4.9 percentage points to a record 13.7 per cent, as 603,300 workers had their hours cut, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed on Thursday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia and Treasury are expecting unemployment to hit 10 per cent by the end of June, a level unseen since April 1994.
National Australia Bank, Australia biggest business lender, is forecasting an 11.7 per cent jobless rate by next month, which would be the highest since the 1930s Great Depression.
Funerals from tomorrow will be allowed to have 20 people inside, up to 10, but 30 mourners will be allowed to gather outside. Pictured is St Marks Anglican Church at Darling Point in Sydney's east
In April, 594,300 Australians either lost their job or gave up looking for one, as the national unemployment rate surged from 5.2 per cent in March to a five-year high of 6.2 per cent. Underemployment soared by 4.9 percentage points to a record 13.7 per cent, as 603,300 workers had their hours cut, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed on Thursday. Pictured is a Centrelink queue at Soutport on the Gold Coast on March 23, 2020
