All patrons over the age of sixteen will be required to provide name and number for contact tracing.
The new contact tracing system as announced by the Western Australian government yesterday is due to come into effect next week on 5 December. (Featured image: @drone_nr)
Failure to do so will result in fines of up to $50,000 for individuals and up to $250,000 for businesses. These will be enforced by local police and councils. And if you can’t pay, you could be spending up to twelve months in prison.
The government has also specified that the confidential details will be encrypted (when the app is used) and only be kept for 28 days. They should in no way be used for any other purposes aside from contact tracing.
Although WA got rid of their contact tracers earlier in the year, the decision to get them back is, as Premier Mark McGowan says, ”is about being careful and having precautions in place for the future.”
”This is a precautionary measure put in place in case we have an outbreak come back so we can immediately contact trace and so we could scale up the system as soon as we need to, if we have an outbreak,” he said. ”Whilst it is a tiny inconvenience to people, it’s a safety issue. Other States are doing it, we’re doing it.”
The following businesses will be required to register contacts with people picking up take away being exempt.
➡️ Food and licensed venues
➡️ Indoor sporting centres including gyms and pools
➡️ Places of worship and funeral parlours
➡️ Hairdressers, barbers and other beauty and personal care services
➡️ Entertainment venues including museums, theatres, galleries and cinemas
➡️ House inspections and auctions
➡️ Libraries and other community facilities
➡️ Zoos and amusement parks
➡️ Accommodation facilities with check-in arrangements already in place