16 March 2020
To all clubs, volunteers, competitors, and their families.
You are obviously all aware of the current Covid-19 (Coronavirus) threat facing the community. Motorcycling NSW has been working with the NSW Office Of Sport to keep ourselves aware of the situation and what it means for our sport. Here is the latest from the Department of health;
On 15 March 2020, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard made an Order under Section 7 of the Public Health Act 2010 to force the immediate cancellation of major events with more than 500 people.
Individuals who fail to comply could face up to six months in prison or a fine of up to $11,000 or both, plus additional penalties for each day the offence continues. Corporations face even harsher fines.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) has also recommended that events that utilize healthcare professionals and emergency services also be cancelled, and as such we have already been notified by a couple of the organizations who provide first aid and paramedic services to our events around the state that they will no longer be available.
Our team at MNSW will be working in the next day or so with all of our clubs and promoters to determine exactly what events are coming up, and the best way to handle the impact of this announcement on those events. In some cases, events may be able to go ahead under the current guidelines, although event structures may need to be changed in some cases. Obviously, our larger events will need to be rescheduled or cancelled, but at this stage we do not have any indication of when this situation will change, so any postponement will be indefinite at present.
We will work together with our clubs to get us all through this period as best we can, and we will keep you notified of any changes to the official position from the NSW Government as soon as we hear anything.
Obviously this is disappointing for all of us, but the safety of our community obviously must come first, and in the meantime we will take advantage of any down time to work with our clubs and make improvements to the sport so that when we are ready to fire things up again, we can have a sport that is even better than it was before
David Cooke
CEO