Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the ACT could move into the next phase of easing coronavirus restrictions in a little over a week, after businesses and patrons complied with the social distancing rules over the weekend.
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Speaking in Murrumbateman on Monday, Mr Barr said he did not believe any fines had been issued over the weekend for breaching the strict rules on patron limits and physical distancing.
It came after businesses were accused of flouting restrictions the previous weekend, with reports of venues packed with too many people and patrons being served alcohol while standing.
"The feedback I've had this morning is very positive that following the quite intensive engagement across the different ACT agencies, Access Canberra, ACT Policing and other that there has been a very positive response from businesses. I don't believe we have issued any fines and the response has been really really positive," Mr Barr said.
Mr Barr said the problems of the previous weekend were "transition" issues, after the rules were relaxed on June 19 to allow venues to have up to 100 people inside and in outdoor enclosed spaces, so long as they allowed for four square metres per person.
It is believed some breaches stemmed from a misunderstanding of these riles, while others deliberately did not follow them.
"Businesses want to get this right. They recognise the importance of maintaining public confidence and the safety of their venues," Mr Barr said.
"Where there have been some issues particularly in that transition weekend before last we sat down with people, had good productive conversations and worked things through.
"That's been our approach throughout this. We want this to succeed, we don't want to have to go backward and we're seeing the benefits of that strong engagement taking place right across the ACT."
The ACT was also still considering how to implement the new two square metre per person rule for smaller venues.
Western Australia and Tasmania have already reduced social distancing requirements to one person per two square metres. However will be up to each state and territory when they move to the new restriction.
"We're examining those questions as part of our next step which is early next month ... so there'll be some further meetings over the next seven days , we'll finalise that and we intend to make a public announcement in that regard coming into effect from about the 9th of July," Mr Barr said.
The ACT has not had an active coronavirus case since June 17.
However Victoria is experiencing a spike in cases, with 75 more positive tests recorded today.
