No bubble date, but Cook Islanders already booking flights home
Government still aspires to launch two-way quarantine-free travel from May, but, writes Joel Maxwell, has been slammed for delays.
COOK Islanders in Aotearoa, desperate to return home, are booking flights despite having no definite date set for a quarantinefree travel bubble.
It comes as the New Zealand government is slammed for delays in easing two-way travel with the island nation.
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said work continued towards opening quarantine free, two-way travel ‘‘as soon as it was safe to do so’’.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and Ardern announced last month their governments were working towards a two-way quarantinefree travel bubble by May, with no definite date set.
‘‘Timeframes have not changed since the two prime ministers met in Auckland – the aspiration remains to open sometime in May,’’ the spokeswoman said.
Previously, Ardern has said the risk is of departing New Zealand carrying the virus to the Cook Islands, and Kiwis ‘‘carry a lot of responsibility’’ to get it right.
The New Zealand government’s handling of a bubble was criticised by Cook Island businessman John Dunn, who said two-way quarantinefree travel was possible months ago.
Brown and his contingent were ‘‘patronised’’ by the Government when visiting in March, Dunn said.
A wary Cook Islands government would not comment on Dunn’s criticisms.
Brown said his economy, which was heavily dependent on tourists, was losing millions of dollars a day in revenue because of closed borders. The islands were declared Covid-19 free almost a year ago – on April 16.
Meanwhile, one-way, noquarantine flights from Rarotonga to New Zealand started in January. The subsequent flood of people seeking jobs sparked concerns about a potential workforce drought in the islands.
Mii Hinarere Tupangaia, president of the Hutt Valley Cook Islands Association, said it was tough for islanders in New Zealand since last year, but ‘‘we coped’’.
Some Cook Islanders she knew had already booked flights for next month, and June, to head home after a year of uncertainty.
The two-way bubble could open from early May, with Air New Zealand advertising return flights from May 10.
Tupangaia said this is the longest she has gone between visits to Puaikura, her home on the western side of Rarotonga.
She has returned home ‘‘once or twice a year’’ since she arrived in Aotearoa, aged 22, in the late 1960s. Back then she took on a job as an operator with Telecom, and has always lived in the Hutt Valley.
Tupangaia had only just returned from a trip to Rarotonga last year when New Zealand was plunged into level 4 lockdown.
‘Timeframes have not changed since the two prime ministers met in Auckland – the aspiration remains to open sometime in May.’ PM’S SPOKESWOMAN
‘‘I got back and the following couple of weeks was lockdown – that’s when Covid started.’’
That, she said, was the last time she had been home. She would have returned in December A two-way bubble was open then.
‘‘You know you’ve got a family over there, when you go, you just go home: your home is there for you.’’
she said she would return to the islands later this year, sometime after the bubble was confirmed.
Brown says the Cook Islands will be ready to host New Zealand tourists from May 1.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the government was working towards two-way quarantine-free travel with the Cook Islands from next month. Reopening travel from New Zealand would be an important step towards economic recovery for the Cook Islands, he said. ‘‘However we must be certain that every measure has been taken to ensure it is done safely, and the Ministry of Health is working closely and at speed with officials in the Cook Islands to ensure all health requirements are met.’’