Politics

Just To Reiterate, Your Easter Holiday Plans Do Not Qualify As ‘Essential Travel’

Here's what you need to know about your state's travel restrictions over the long weekend.

by Rachael Conaghan  6 April 2020
camping at easter

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With the Easter long weekend almost upon us, usually you’d expect thousands of people to be crowding into national parks, clogging up highways and descending on other normally quiet spots to happily ruin the serenity for locals.

Not this year.

Broadly speaking, all Australians are being told not to undertake any non-essential travel to avoid spreading the coronavirus — our strict social distancing rules have helped flatten the curve, but relaxing these rules too early could easily see the virus spread.

“People should not be going away for Easter holidays. People should not be getting in their cars and going to other places,” Scott Morrison said last week.

Australia’s Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy also urged people to forget about their usual Easter routine.

“We’re asking you to stay with your family, in your residence, not travel where you might be unwittingly spreading the virus, not have parties where you might unwittingly be sharing the virus with people who don’t have it,” he said.

That’s the official advice we should all be sticking to, but state-by-state they’re enforcing the measures slightly differently. Here’s what you need to know based on where you’re stuck right now.

Queensland

Queenslanders are allowed to leave their house for 13 reasons — none of which include ducking down to the beach for a quick dip.

To make sure people are getting the message, the state government has also closed most national parks, camping areas, walking tracks, 4WD areas, swimming holes and picnic areas.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has made it clear people should cancel any Easter plans that involve travel.

At the moment you’re allowed to have a maximum of two extra people over to your house if social distancing is practiced.

Victoria

Well, last weekend an L-plater who was practicing her driving a few suburbs over was fined $1600 for being too far from her house — so what do you think.

The Victorian government has the strictest rules in the country right now. As of last week all recreational activities are banned, apart from basic exercise.

That means no camping, boating, fishing, golf or any other sports or hobbies.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he knew it was frustrating, but under the current circumstances activities like this were risking people’s lives.

“There are so many in the community who will be at risk if we keep going on as usual, pretending this is not real,” he said.

“I thank those who are giving up so much. I am deeply grateful. I know it’s a lot but it is making a massive difference.”

Basically, if you’re in Victoria do not leave your house unless it is absolutely essential — think food, medicine, exercise and work or study.

New South Wales

Absolutely not. Don’t even think about it. New South Wales currently makes up about half of Australia’s total number of cases — 2,637 out of a total 5,744. We don’t want to see that number get any higher.

Under the state’s social distancing rules people are not allowed to leave their house unless they have a “reasonable excuse” to do so. Non-essential travel is not a reasonable excuse.

National parks are still open — for those who still want to use them for exercising, but there are restrictions. Camping in these national parks is banned. The government has also closed some high-visitation areas like beaches, picnic facilities and lookouts.

Tasmania

Tasmania may have introduced the bougiest rules to cover the Easter period — from April 8 until April 27 Tasmanians will only be able to launch their boats from within the municipality of their primary residence.

Tassie residents have also been told they’re not allowed to visit their holiday homes unless they’re doing a security check or maintenance.

Well then.

Those of you who don’t have the burden of worrying about your extra home and your boat, you are not allowed out of your house unless it’s essential.

Western Australia

Western Australia is huge. Over a normal Easter weekend, you’d have more than 2.6 million square kilometres to explore.

Now, not so much. The WA government has separated the state into nine different regions, and travel between these regions is banned.

National parks are currently open, apart from some sites within parks that normally receive high numbers of visitors.

Bookings for campgrounds have been suspended, and existing bookings are being refunded. The only exceptions are for people with no fixed address, backpackers or overseas travellers who are unable to return home or find alternative accommodation.

The Kimberley is also closed to tourists and visitors to protect the remote Aboriginal communities. People already in the region are also unable to travel between shires.

A full list of closures can be found here.

Northern Territory

You should reconsider all non-essential travel — and by non-essential, the government means people who aren’t health workers or residents.

People coming in with their caravan and motorhome have explicitly been called out, and are being “strongly urged” to cancel their holiday plans.

Remote communities have already been closed to all non-essential travel.

If you are a resident of a remote community you’re allowed to travel between communities within your biosecurity area. However, people are strongly advised not to unless it’s absolutely necessary.

South Australia

Premier Steven Marshall has ruled out any kind of travel over Easter.

“As we see the number of new infections stabilise, I don’t want anybody to think we can relax the restrictions,” he said. “This Easter, this school holidays, travel around this state is completely and utterly off. We do not want people heading out.

“I know this is very tough on many families … it’s really important we follow this restriction. By doing so we will unequivocally save lives.”

Right now South Australia’s laws are slightly more relaxed than their eastern counterparts — they’re encouraging people to stick to a two-person limit on social gatherings, but are only legally enforcing a ban of more than ten.

ACT

The ACT has also enforced the ban on gatherings of more than two people, and banned people from leaving their homes apart from essential reasons.

The great news is the measures we’ve put in place appear to be flattening the curve in Australia, but that doesn’t mean we can get complacent. Relaxing social distancing rules too early could easily spread the virus even further, and that would kill people.

Yes, it sucks, but the better we are at staying inside now the sooner we’ll get control of this virus, and the sooner this will all be over.

It’s really as simple as that — don’t be a selfish prick, and stay at home.