Opening our border bubble
Prime Minister says quarantine-free travel with Aust will happen in first quarter of 2021
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said ministers have agreed in principle for a travel bubble with Australia early next year, depending on decisions by Australian ministers.
In her final post-cabinet press conference of the year, Ardern said Cabinet had agreed the bubble will open in the first quarter of 2021, which would mean travellers do not have to quarantine at either end.
The date would be announced next year after more arrangements had been made.
Australia’s Cabinet needed to sign off the bubble and it depended on the Covid-19 situation in both countries not changing.
Segregation of staff, making sure there were contingency plans for an outbreak in Australia were still part of the logistical issues to be worked through, said Ardern.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins will be visiting Auckland Airport today to see how they plan to organise segregating travellers.
One of the options on the table for bringing back New Zealanders from Australia if there was an outbreak there is for those returning travellers to self-isolate when they return home depending on this.
The airlines which have grounded fleet and furloughed staff had indicated they’d need a notice period before the trans-tasman bubble was operational, said Hipkins.
Meanwhile the Government’s Covid-19 resurgence plan will be released today.
Year of theteam
Ardern reflected on the first postCabinet of this year when they first discussed Covid-19 and soon organised a repatriation flight from Wuhan.
New Zealand had the lowest mortality rate and the lowest number of active cases in the OECD and New
Zealanders should be proud, Ardern said. “None of that is to say our response has been perfect — it hasn’t.”
Ardern said she wanted to thank New Zealanders again for their efforts this year.
“I’m incredibly proud of what our team of five million have achieved.
“This is the year of the team.”
Onihuma¯tao
It has also been reported an initial deal on the standoff over Ihuma¯tao went to Cabinet yesterday but Ardern said there would not be an announcement. RNZ reported it understood the deal was for Fletcher Building to sell the land to the Government, the first step in reaching a resolution; with agreement from Fletchers and Kı¯ngitanga, on behalf of mana
whenua. But Ardern said yesterday there would be an announcement at the “appropriate time” and she refused to put a timeline on that.
Ardern also declined to say whether a deal was even taken to Cabinet.
The Prime Minister said she’d been seeking advice from Kı¯ngitanga on when potentially to visit Ihumatao.
Ontrevor Mallard
Speaker Trevor Mallard will appear before the select committee this week.
Last week he publicly apologised for comments he made in which he wrongly claimed an accused rapist was working on Parliament’s premises. A staffer was stood down and then launched defamation pro
ceedings, which were later revealed to have cost the taxpayer more than $330,000.
Ardern said Speaker Trevor Mallard should stay in the role because while he made a mistake, he was still the best person for the job.
“He has made a mistake, no question here,” Ardern said yesterday.
She said it wasn’t for Mallard to apologise to her because he serves on behalf of all Parliament.
It was for him to make himself answerable to Parliament which he was doing by appearing before the select committee.
Ardern said the decision to expand MPS’ legal costs was decided by the Business Select Committee in August and was separate from the Speaker’s provisions. — NZ Herald