Patrons in licensed pubs and restaurants across South Australia will soon be allowed to drink while standing, provided they are in outdoor areas, as the state moves to ease more coronavirus restrictions.
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SA will also ease measures on the events sector to allow private functions, including weddings, with a maximum of 150 people to serve drinks to people who are standing and to allow dancing.
The two changes come into force from midnight Friday into Saturday.
Premier Steven Marshall said the measures would provide a boost to jobs and the wider economy.
"This is going to be massive for licensed premises but also for the events sector which has been doing it extraordinarily tough," he said on Thursday.
"This is going to employ thousands of people very, very soon."
Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the changes reflected continued improvements in coronavirus numbers in NSW and the reduction in federal government assistance for local workers.
She said it was a matter of balancing the health risks against the potential economic benefits.
"When you weigh up the health risks and the economic risks, I felt what was proposed was sensible," she said.
"I'm pretty happy with this decision today."
But Mr Marshall urged caution over talk of a travel bubble between South Australia and New Zealand.
He said while it was something the government was keen to pursue, it was still some time off.
"We've got to have a good working relationship with the health advisers in New Zealand, we need to have that data flow through just like with the other states," he said.
"We're going to work on it but there's certainly no announcement anytime soon."
In other SA changes, regulations for the annual schoolies celebrations have been imposed, with the number of people in short-stay accommodation and at campsites to be restricted.
Accommodation venues can host as many people as there are beds, plus an additional six people in each site.
Campsites will be limited to a maximum of six adults.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said with the large-scale schoolies gathering in November cancelled this year, there was emerging evidence the activities were being spread over a number of weekends.
"This is obviously designed to ensure we don't have large groups of young people on small sites," he said.
South Australia reported no new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and has no active infections.
The state has had only 40 cases in the past five months.
Australian Associated Press
