A longstanding ban on dancing at South Australia’s pubs and clubs will be lifted from Friday 26 February 2021 but with some restrictions, while the state will also remove its remaining border restrictions with Victoria.

From one minute past midnight on Friday, small licensed venues with 200 or fewer people can allow dancing, as long as patrons check-in using QR codes and maintain a distance of one person per two-square-metres. Dancing will also be allowed at larger venues of between 200 to 1000 people, so long as only 50 people dance at one time in a designated area such as on a dance floor.

On Monday, the TGA granted provisional approval for the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia.

As we hear the fantastic news that we're one step closer to immunisation, let's keep up our everyday steps to stop the spread.

As of 12:01AM 1 January 2021, individuals who have been in NSW in the preceding 14 days are no longer permitted entry into South Australia. This does not include residents of SA, or those in transit through NSW. SA residents returning must quarantine for 14 days.

While the boarder remains open, SA residents are being encouraged to reconsider travel to Victoria. Those who have visited Victoria must remain on high alert for symptoms of COVID-19 if they have recently travelled to Victoria, and get tested if any symptoms develop and remain in isolation until results are confirmed.

Many of you will be pleased to hear that a large raft of COVID-19 restrictions will be eased from next Monday, 14 December.

This announcement comes as South Australia records ZERO new cases and ZERO active cases.

As we approach the festive season, this is such fantastic news for our families, small businesses, local community groups and sports clubs.

I want to start by sincerely thanking you for your understanding and cooperation during our community pause.

By banding together, it has provided our hard-working contact tracing team vital time to not only tackle the Parafield Cluster, but also avoid further community transmission.

With the information available at the time of the outbreak, the unequivocal health advice from our Chief Public Health Officer was clear; we needed a circuit breaker to stay ahead of the coronavirus pandemic. However, we have since learnt that someone deliberately misled our contact tracing team.

On the advice of SA Health, from midnight tonight, South Australia will be on a 6 day pause with the introduction of new restrictions to get ahead of the Parafield Cluster.

This means all non-essential workers must stay home and only leave when necessary, such as for groceries and medical supplies.

These measures are being taken to reduce community transmission and avoid the long lockdown we saw in Victoria recently.

Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson, Local Federal Member Nicolle Flint and I today unveiled a plaque to commemorate the official opening of the redeveloped Brighton Oval.

Home to many local sporting clubs, Brighton Oval is used by hundreds of players, volunteers, life members and local residents who love the grounds. 

This year, local arts organisation Tutti Arts moved into their exciting new headquarters in Brighton.

I had the pleasure of visiting their new headquarters and seeing creative artists at work. Tutti’s leadership team including President Andrew Downing, Founder and Artistic Director Pat Rix, GM Linda Williams and board member Paul Kirkwood showed me around the new site, and I was fortunate enough to see several performances including the Thank God Its Friday choir singing Katy Perry’s hit Roar.

On Saturday 18 July, I stood amid a sea of black and gold jerseys to cheer from the sidelines as the Brighton Rugby Union Football Club played their first round of home games for the season.

On this special day, the clubrooms were also officially opened. I joined Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson and Club President Wayne Londema in front of a very excited crowd to cut a black and gold ribbon to mark this occasion.