Queensland agricultural shows will be able to run without the burden of vaccine mandates as of April 14, after the Queensland Premier announced this morning the easing of restrictions for venues around the state.
According to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the decision to relax restrictions came with the announcement that Queenslanders have reached 90 per cent double dose vaccinations.
Queensland Ag Shows General Manager Trevor Beckingham said that he was extremely happy with the decision, after being left in suspense for months with little information on when the mandates would be overturned.
"I couldn't be happier, it means that the reign of terror is over and that our shows can return," he said.
"It's really good news and I just thank all of the people who have supported us and gotten us to this decision, where we can move forward with a clean bill and look forward to the 14th of April.
"I am now hopeful that we will see an almost full show circuit and it's the bulk of the season to go, so I think we can see plenty of shows and good support to those shows.
"It certainly does lift that spectre that was hanging over them."
A number of show societies made the difficult decision to cancel their shows outright, but those who postponed and were waiting with bated breath will now be able to apply for new dates to host their events without mandates.
"There were a few early shows that postponed with an indefinite date and they can now go through the process of applying for a new date. Fortunately, it's not a huge number and we will process them as quickly as we can," Mr Beckingham said.
"The ones that I was really worried about were those immediately after Easter who were needing to make calls now; Stanthorpe will now go ahead full steam, as will Monto, Tambo, Dirranbandi, and Goondiwindi.
"I was dealing with phone calls just last night from shows that were having to make decisions. Kingaroy show were calling all of their people this morning telling them that it's off after making the decision last night, and now they've got to turn around and tell them all that it's on."
The easing of restrictions also applies to pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants; theme parks, casinos and cinemas; weddings; galleries, libraries, museums and stadiums.
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