Kiwis in limbo call for ‘green flight’ decision

An Auckland woman stranded on the Gold Coast when quarantine-free travel was suspended is calling for the Government to speed up decisionmaking on when green flights resume on the air route.

Kerry Crick, her husband and two friends were supposed to fly home to New Zealand on Tuesday last week, after a planned five-day trip across the Tasman to visit family and friends.

The two couples were forced to stay put after Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ordered the snap three-day lockdown because of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19.

That lockdown ended for parts of Queensland, including the Gold Coast, on Friday night.

And although the pause on the transtasman bubble for South Australia, ACT, Tasmania and Victoria will lift at 11.59pm tonight, the friends must wait until Tuesday to find out when the quarantine-free border will again be opened between New Zealand and Queensland.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said a high level of risk remained for Queensland, as well as New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory — community cases were reported in all four states this week — which was why the pause for those states would be reviewed next Tuesday.

Crick said the wait means they can't yet book flights or arrange the Covid tests required within 72 hours of their flight.

“It's very frustrating not knowing the timeline. It's hard to think that you're stuck here, as a New Zealander, and they're not doing anything to get us home.”

Hipkins told the Herald on Sunday the Government would be reviewing the Gold Coast travel bubble setting over the coming days.

“Health officials continue to review the situation in different Australian states and territories,” Hipkins said.

They're not doing anything to get us home.

Kerry Crick

“It's understandable that a pause can be disruptive for many people. However our concern first and foremost is ensuring Covid-19 is kept out of New Zealand communities.

“The Government has been very clear that transtasman travel settings could change at any time and that people should take that into account when they choose to fly.”

Such an indefinite timeline is of little solace to Crick and her group who have had to pay for another week's accommodation and take extra leave because they couldn't get back to New Zealand for work.

“Is this not an opportunity now to allow us home before there's another outbreak here?”