Travel Between Australia and New Zealand on the Cards as Early as Next Month: Peters
High level talks are underway between the Queensland Government and New Zealand to open up a travel bubble from as early as next month. Air New Zealand is involved in the discussions, which could see flights operate between New Zealand, Brisbane, Cairns, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. It comes a day after New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters floated the idea, suggesting the country would welcome visitors from states in Australia that have managed to keep coronavirus cases low.
“Rather than being confined or constrained by the states that are not succeeding with COVID-19, why don’t we just deal with Tasmania for example and Queensland, and start there?” Mr Peters suggested, according to Stuff.
Earlier, Mr Peters told Nine: “Before we went to lockdown, we were talking about getting out of it and having a bubble of success between both countries.
“But we’ve run into the roadblock of federalism, so to speak. It’s very clear that Tasmania is set to go and we should start, frankly. Let’s not restrain the movement between our two countries based on the slowest state in Australia.”
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden told a local radio station the situation was in the hands of Australia, as individual states fight over border closures. “[Prime Minister Scott Morrison] has actually left that open,” Ms Ardern said.
“We’ve said that’s a matter for Australia, we’re not necessarily here determining that it has to be country-wide. They have very deliberately left the option of opening up individual states.”