Circular 9/21 25 March 2021 Changes to ANZAC Day Exemptions
Further to Circular 7/21 distributed on 12 March, I can now provide further advice regarding NSW ANZAC Day commemorations.
The Premier issued a media release on Wednesday regarding the easing of restrictions across the state. However, restrictions and registrations for contact tracing purposes still apply to events and venues.
The Minister for Sport, Multiculturalism, Seniors, and Veterans, Geoff Lee, and RSL NSW State President, Ray James have issued this letter outlining the guidelines to the new Exemptions to the Public Health Order granted by the Minister for Health and Medical Research for ANZAC Day commemorations.
An overview of the Exemptions and guidelines are as follows:
Sydney CBD March
The March cannot proceed ‘as normal’ this year. The good news is that up to 10,000 people can participate including:
- Current serving members and veterans of the Australian Defence Force
- Descendants of veterans of the Australian Defence Force
- Veterans of a Commonwealth Force and their descendants
- Bands (Invites to be extended by RSL NSW)
Veterans and descendants can march with their relevant unit, ship, squadron, or association and behind their banners.
To comply with the guidelines to the Exemption to the Public Health Order, RSL NSW must collect the names and contact details of all marchers for COVID-19 contact tracing purposes. To expedite this process and mitigate check-in processes at the event the Secretary of all associations should register their intention to march by completing this form on the RSL NSW website.
Veterans who have previously registered to participate in the Sydney CBD March will not be required to re-register and tickets will not be issued. To date, RSL NSW has received less than 600 registrations to participate so it is expected that any veteran who wishes to march, can do so.
Spectators can attend the event and will be required to register their presence at the event. The spectator areas along the march route will be managed by NSW Police and other agencies of the NSW Government.
A complete overview of the Sydney CBD March event details can be found on the RSL NSW website here.
All other ANZAC Day Commemorations outside of Sydney CBD and across NSW
Any march or service can have up to 5,000 people (who must not exceed one person per 2 square meters of space).
Conditions that apply to all ANZAC Day commemoration events
- There must be a nominated organiser for each outdoor ANZAC Day March or Service
- The nominated organiser must develop and comply with a COVID-19 safety plan
- Each person participating in an outdoor ANZAC March or commemoration must provide their name, telephone number of email address to the nominated organiser. This could be captured by scanning a QR code or manually recording the names and contact details of all participants.
There is no requirement under the current Exemptions for ticketing, seating, or fencing.
I appreciate that, as volunteers, hosting events for up to 5,000 people and managing the logistics to comply with the Exemption guidelines may not be viable. If you require support to communicate this to your community or media outlets, please notify ANZAC House.
When you have finalised the details of any Dawn Service, March, or commemoration service in your community please complete this form so that the information is available to the public on the RSL NSW website.
If you have any questions about planning ANZAC Day commemoration, please contact the Member Support Team on support@rslnsw.org.au or 1300 679 775.
