ACT police won't be stationed on bridges and prominent locations around Lake Burley Griffin to enforce social distancing measures, the ACT's Chief Minister has said.
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While Andrew Barr said the measure to stop large crowds gathering to exercise would be "overkill" he said it would be disappointing should the situation come to that.
"If it is necessary and if there is a massive problem and people can't adapt their behaviour to leave a gap, how would you manage [social distancing] if people can't keep their distance?" he said.
Large crowds of people exercising have been seen around the lake and other prominent outdoor areas of Canberra in recent days.
Current social distancing measures are set to be reviewed at the end of the month, but Mr Barr previously said it would be unlikely if there would be any relaxation of the restrictions by April's end.
As The Canberra Times revealed last week, the Chief Minister said schools and the ACT's higher education would be among the first sectors to reopen, should social distancing restrictions be eased back.
But Mr Barr said higher education institutions would still need to carry out a large degree of caution should physical classrooms return.
"It could work in the odd setting like small lab work or a vocational education context that could be managed with the risk," he told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"This is the dance that Australia and the world will be playing with for the next period, and there's no vaccine to this, so we're either locked up forever or manage the process."
The Chief Minister said areas in the entertainment sector, which had been severely impacted by coronavirus and social distancing measures, would likely be one of the last sectors to reopen.
"Large crowds magnifies the risk while smaller groups and household groups is much less risky," Mr Barr said.
"There is no scenario where the risk is eliminated, it is only minimised.
"I've said before there are no good choices available to the world, most of the time it's sifting through dozens of bad options and choosing the least worst one."
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As other industries work on ways to adapt to the changing times, the Chief Minister cast uncertainty on whether the NRL would be able to resume competition by the league's self-imposed May 28 deadline.
While he said he would have no issue with the NRL resuming, risks would have to be managed.
"Every industry sector is going through a process of adaptation," he said.
"I have no problem with the NRL or other sports or other industries doing planning to see how they'd get back to operating because jobs and livelihoods are at stake."
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Andrew Brown
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
