Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has announced that New Zealanders from coronavirus-free areas will be allowed to travel to Australia, quarantine free, under a trans-Tasman travel bubble, with an agreement reached today during discussions with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Mr McCormack said the plan would be carried out in a staged approach, with under stage one, New Zealanders able to travel to NSW and the Northern Territory from Friday 16 October.
McCormack added, “This will allow New Zealanders and other residents in New Zealand who have not been in an area designated as a COVID-19 hot spot in New Zealand in the preceding 14 days to travel quarantine free to Australia,” and “Any state or territory that imposes travel restrictions consistent with the Commonwealth-based definition hot spot will be able to participate and that is an important note.”
With the first flights across the Tasman within weeks, Mr McCormack said the Department of Health had undertaken a public health risk assessment of COVID-19 and New Zealand which indicated New Zealand posed a low risk of COVID-19 transmission to Australia.
He said Australia was looking forward to re-opening to the world, adding “We want to open up Australia to the world.” “This is the first part of it”.
He also said, “We want to make sure that we get as many Australians home, and “We want to make sure that we get as many visitors,” adding that the travel bubble will free up space for hotel quarantine, with an additional 325 passengers a week to enter quarantine in Sydney, and “So, by freeing up those 325 places, that means that more Australians from more destinations overseas can indeed then fill that 325 vacancies”.
“So, this trans-Tasman bubble means that there are going to be more places open for more Australians to come home from abroad.”
Mr McCormack also said the travel bubble as it stands only includes New Zealand, but other countries could be included, adding, “I know Foreign Minister Marise Payne is working with many of our Pacific island friends at the moment”.
When asked when New Zealand might allow Australians to visit, Mr McCormack said that decision was up to the New Zealand government, adding “It’s very much in prime minister Ardern’s court at the moment”. “We want to make sure that there is two-way travel, and that would be something that I will leave to those negotiations between the two Prime Ministers.”
A report by John Alwyn-Jones
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