Yass hospitality venues report turning Canberrans away more often after NSW stay-at-home orders lifted for town

Emma Heiniger, publican of the Australian Hotel Yass, said since the town's reprieve was given on September 28, she and her team had seen an uptick in visitors from the ACT and other surrounding NSW local government areas, which were not enjoying the same freedom.

Ms Heiniger said they had to turn away two Canberra women on Sunday and more on Monday.

"We've been advised by Yass Police and the Liquor Accord to keep checking patrons' IDs as people from Canberra and other LGAs are not yet allowed to come into Yass," Ms Heiniger said.

"We've been very diligent in doing that. Other venues have been, too."

The publican said a staff member on Sunday politely asked a couple of women to leave after they learned the pair was from Canberra.

"They understood and left without any issue. We want to protect Yass as much as we can, especially after the last outbreak and lockdown," Ms Heiniger said.

"We don't want to go into that again."

Ms Heiniger said they also wanted to see Canberrans avoid fines and other penalties for breaching COVID rules.

Industry colleague Andrew Dodds, who owns and runs Thyme to Taste and Thyme to Taste Emporium in Yass's main street, said they had noticed many more out-of-towners passing through.

"We've seen a lot more people who we don't know coming in and we're taking all the precautions," Mr Dodds said.

"Checking for double-vax statuses, ensuring seating spaces. That's basically what we've got to do now."

He said people from places like Murrumbateman and Gundaroo had also frequented Yass more often now since they could not trek to the nation's capital or other surrounding NSW LGAs still in lockdown.

MORE COVID NEWS

On the same day the orders were lifted, a woman ignored self-isolation directions after she spent hours in the Yass community, NSW Police alleged.

The woman, in her 20s, will face court in November after being charged with failing to comply with direction.

Yass Valley mayor Rowena Abbey previously said it was important everyone did the right thing to stop the spread of COVID to ensure businesses already struggling did not have to close their doors again.

"We were placed back into lockdown just two days after the stay-at-home order was lifted [earlier in September] because of new cases of," Cr Abbey said.

"We do not want this to happen again, so please be responsible."

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr previously announced the territory was scheduled to come out of lockdown on October 15, with gradual easing of restrictions to begin earlier.

In the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, the ACT recorded 28 new cases, bringing the total of active cases to 362, and two deaths.

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