Reason Bunnings is still open in Sydney and Brisbane despite lockdown

New South Wales’ lockdown rules are nothing if not complicated.

They’ve progressively tightened over the course of the outbreak while in hotspot local government areas there’s been extra regulations on top of that.

But despite the list of retailers allowed open having been whittled down to just the essentials, one notable big chain has been business as usual throughout Sydney’s Covid-19 crisis — Bunnings.

It’s been cited as an example of “lockdown light” and why the city cannot get on top of the outbreak.

It’s the same in southeast Queensland where the hardware giant is also welcoming customers indoors despite the lockdown there.

Indeed, in Queensland, very few retailers have been forced to close. Unlike in NSW, everything from Kmart to Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi to DJs continue to have their doors wide open.

It’s led Victorians to scratch their heads. Throughout most of their lockdowns Bunnings have been click and collect only.

The question of why Bunnings remains open in Sydney led NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to snap at Wednesday’s Covid-19 press conference.

When asked repeatedly by Sky News journalist Andrew Clennell to justify why Bunnings was on the “critical” list of stores, Ms Berejiklian abruptly answered “next question”, and turned to another reporter.

Hardware, not Bunnings specifically, is deemed essential retail in NSW alongside supermarkets, grocers, chemists, bottle shops and garden centres among others.

Large retailers have seen little transmission to customers

It was chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant who went deeper into the risk of transmission at larger retail outlets in, as she described, “one of the tightest lockdowns we have ever had”.

Mobility, Dr Chant insisted, was down across most of Sydney to levels seen in Melbourne during its various lockdowns.

So Sydneysiders didn’t seem to be flocking to the few shops that were still open.

“We’ve got non-essential retail closed,” she said.

“Occasionally we’ve had a handful of transmission events in supermarkets. But large supermarkets or large spaces are not actually driving transmission.

“The only time we are tending to be see transmission in shops is when the staff themselves infect each other.”

Rather, it was workplaces and households where transmission was proving hard to extinguish.

“The numbers are going up because we have a people infectious in the community. The numbers are going up because we are still having mixing with households,” Dr Chant said.

“We are still having a small number of people that are not isolating effectively and are not isolating after a positive test.”

There’s no doubt that Bunnings stores are on the list of sites in both NSW and Queensland where Covid-19 positive people have visited. Eleven branches are listed across Sydney.

However, none of those are locations where transmission to customers is thought to have occurred. They’re all casual contact venues.

RELATED: What does ‘infectious in the community’ mean?

Retail settings that are riskier

Where transmission to customers has occurred in retail settings has mostly been in smaller shops such as bakeries, butchers and banks. Places where people are crowded closer.

Dr Chant has been at pains to stress, however, that part of the reason larger retail stores have seen fewer transmissions is not their sheer size alone.

It’s because customers are also taking precautions.

If we all crowded into Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings and threw off our masks, it’s very likely cases in those locations would rise. There have been calls for stores to employ security guards to manage compliance.

RELATED: Queensland gears up for lockdown extension

Defining essential retail is a ‘problem’

Nevertheless, the NSW government has been urged by some public health experts to further restrict the list of “essential” retailers, and kick Bunnings off the list.

But defining “essential” is taxing not just NSW but Queensland too where Bunnings is also open.

Indeed, all stores are aside from close contact venues such as nail salons.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said on Wednesday pinning down what was an essential retailer was fraught.

“The problem is that it is very, very difficult to have a definitive list of what can and can’t open,” she said.

“A number of retail stores still sell essential items. It might be nappies, it might be baby formula, it may be electronics, computers so that people can do work at home or their children can study at home. So it is very hard to have a definitive, absolute list of what should and shouldn’t open.”

Buying pot plants from a hardware store might not be seen as essential.

But asking a staff member at a hardware store about what replacement tap or toilet seat you might need, because yours has just gone kaput, could be.

“The message cannot be clearer,” Ms D’Ath said.

“It is up to you. Is it essential for do you walk out that door and go to that shop?”

So what stores are allowed to open, and which aren’t, in NSW and Queensland?

Greater Sydney

All retail stores closed, except the following:

– Supermarkets

– Grocery stores such as butchers and greengrocers as well as retailers that “predominantly sell or display food or drinks”

– Kiosks and other small food and drink premises

– Petrol stations

– Banks and financial institutions

– Hardware, building supplies

– Landscaping material supplies

– Agricultural and rural supplies

– Pet shops, newsagents, office supply stores

– Chemists

– Bottle shops

– Post offices

– Garden centres and plant nurseries

– Vehicle hire premises,

– Mobile phone repairers

– Laundrettes and drycleaners

Southeast Queensland

All stores open, except the following:

– Retail food services including pubs, restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets except for takeaway and home delivery services

– Spas, nail salons, hairdressers, beauty salons, waxing salons, tanning salons, tattoo parlours, non-therapeutic massage and water-based spa services

– Massage parlours unless providing massage therapy for the management or prevention of disease, injury or condition by a registered health practitioner or qualified massage therapist

– Markets, except for food and farmers’ markets only selling food