Streamlined departure on the cards

Departure cards may be on the way out if the government adopts a recommendation from 250-plus Australian and New Zealand business leaders.

Delegates at yesterday’s Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) in Sydney suggested they are not necessary and hamper a seamless transTasman experience, which affects tourism and business.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern agreed, saying she would be talking to statistics and immigration officials, and to watch this space in coming months.

‘‘I will be talking to my Ministers of Statistics and Customs with a view to advancing this.

‘‘In fact, I have already started that conversation on this bugbear,’’ Ardern said.

The government would be working on it in the year ahead, she told a business lunch audience.

Ardern did not give a specific timeframe but said she supported the initiative.

Australia ditched the departure paperwork ln September 2017.

Statistics NZ spokesperson James Weir said in 2017 the New Zealand government was looking to do the same as long as the information could still be captured.

Immigration NZ owns the passenger departure cards and they are used to produce international travel and migration statistics.

Christchurch International Airport chief executive Malcolm Johns said he supported all measures that streamlined the travel experience and would work with officials on the initiative.

Among the other recommendations to come from the ANZLF tourism working group were to expand the trusted traveller trial to 10,000 people and digitalise all boarding passes and arrival cards by 2020, and to adopt common standards for biometrics by the end of 2018.

Sydney Airport will begin a biometrics trial in May with Qantas customers, meaning a passenger’s face will become their passport and boarding pass.

The ANZLF is a trans-Tasman group of senior business and political leaders that focuses on tourism, infrastructure, agribusiness, health technology, innovation and indigenous business.

The high-powered body held its 12th gathering in Sydney yesterday.

It will make a series of recommendations to governments on both sides of the Tasman, aimed at strengthening the Australia/New Zealand business and economic partnership.

Ardern was joined by senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Grant Robertson, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Trade Minister David Parker at the event.

New National Party leader Simon Bridges also attended.

Stuff attended the ANZLF courtesy of the Forum.