The announcement of 10 am Sunday 8 August by the Queensland Premier has the 11 local government areas of the Southeast region coming out of hard lockdown as of 4 pm Sunday afternoon. However, some restrictions will continue to apply. A link to current COVID restrictions can be found here: https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/public-health-directions/restrictions-impacted-areas
Unfortunately, this will mean that Club members who live and work down the hill, even as frustratingly close as Withcott or Murphy's Creek will still be subject to those orders. Specifically, while you are not prevented from coming to the dojo, as we are classified under recreational sports rather than "community sports" (which remain prohibited), you will have to be wearing a mask at all times outside of when you are in the middle of undertaking intense physical activity, and maintain social distance of 1.5 m. These restrictions will continue in place till 4 pm Sunday 22 August.
I would strongly recommend talking to your relevant instructor or discipline coordinator if you are in an affected area, as some accomodations in training might be able to be made. For instance, with kendo, we can reinstate men shields and masks. In lieu of face-to-face training, I would urge you to log onto the "Virtual Dojo" Zoom link so that you can participate as best as you can in the regular classes. While this is never going to be a full replacement for face-to-face training, you can still learn quite a bit from mitorigeiko (active watching practice) and, where your home circumstances safely allow, to practice along with regular classes.
So hang in there everyone! Take care, and we will hope to have a return to fully normal programming soon.