Just two council owned facilities, Invercargill City Council's (ICC) Rugby Park and parts of the Civic Theatre will now require vaccination certificates to be shown before attending events, as Southland moves tomorrow (3rd December) to the new Orange COVID-19 alert level. They join Invercargill's Stadium Southland who also now requires vaccination passes from all users over 12 years.

ICC chief executive Clare Hadley said the health and safety of staff and the community was the organisation’s highest priority when considering the impacts of the new framework.

All other ICC, Gore District and Southland District facilities will retain their existing entry requirements under the new alert level shift.

However event organisers using public facilities will need to supply a plan that follows the Government’s event rules at orange, and this may include the use of a My Vaccine Pass before entry.

Invercargill City at Orange Level

• Civic Administration Building and Council Chambers: Vaccination certificates not required, face coverings required, physical distancing guidelines in place, capacity limits, sign-in required.
• Bluff Service Centre and Library: Vaccination certificates not required, face coverings required, physical distancing guidelines in place, capacity limits, sign-in required.
• Invercargill City Libraries and Archives: Vaccination certificates not required, face coverings required, physical distancing guidelines in place, capacity limits, sign-in required.
• Splash Palace: Vaccination certificates not required, face coverings required in entry foyer areas, physical distancing guidelines in place, capacity limits, sign-in required, food and beverage restrictions in place.
• He Waka Tuia: Vaccination certificates not required, face coverings required, physical distancing guidelines in place, capacity limits, sign-in required.
• Civic Theatre (auditorium events/shows): Vaccination certificates required, face coverings encouraged, patrons encouraged to arrive early, sign-in required.
• Civic Theatre (Victoria and Drawing Rooms): Vaccination certificates not required, face coverings required, physical distancing guidelines in place, capacity limits, sign-in required.
• Scottish Hall: The Hall is available to both vaccinated and non-vaccinated events. The requirement of vaccination certificates to be determined by venue hire client/event operator. If required, there will be limits on capacity, food and beverage restrictions, and physical distancing requirements. Sign-in required.
• Rugby Park: Vaccination certificates required, face coverings encouraged, patrons encouraged to arrive early, sign-in required.
• Council Parks, Reserves and Playgrounds: There are no new requirements following this change to the new COVID-19 Protection Framework. All Parks, Reserves and Playgrounds will follow the SportNZ guidelines.

Gore District at Orange Level

Gore's District Council will not require customers to show a My Vaccine Pass to use their facilities, including the Gore Aquatic Centre, MLT Event Centre and Gore Library

However wearing a mask, social distancing, scanning in and capacity limits will remain in force.

Event organisers using GDC facilities will however need to supply a plan that follows the Government’s event rules at orange which may include using a My Vaccine Pass before entry.

Southland District at Orange Level

Southland District Council will not be mandating vaccine passports at this point in time, but will be continuing to ask people to wear masks, sign in and follow the government's pandemic response advice.

Those hiring SDC owned facilities will need to identify whether their event requires the use of the My Vaccine Pass, and it will be the hirer's responsibility to enforce the use of vaccine passes in keeping with government guidelines under the new traffic light system.