Travel rules give Kiwi the bubble run-around
A New Zealander who was stuck in the Solomon Islands has been saved from his border control catch-22 but reckons there are many others not as lucky as him.
Matt Morley has been building a medical centre at Avu Avu, in the Solomon Islands, for the past 15 months.
It was only after he secured a spot in managed isolation back in New Zealand that he realised the scale of his problem.
Australian border rules meant he could not spend more than 72 hours in Australia and his application for an exemption was denied.
Flights from the Solomon Islands to Brisbane only leave on Fridays.
While there are plenty of flights onwards to New Zealand within the 72-hour period, these were all designated ‘‘quarantine-free’’ – meaning flight crews do not need to isolate on return to New Zealand and, once the travel bubble with Australia opens, all passengers will be exempt.
Because he would not have been in Australia for the previous 14 days, he was not allowed on the plane to New Zealand.
‘‘Apparently people coming from Papua New Guinea are also now stuffed, along with Nauru and Vanuatu,’’ Morley said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) currently has 27 New Zealanders registered in the Solomon Islands, 88 in Papua New Guinea and 52 in Vanuatu, and was already working with New Zealanders in similar situations.
The MFAT list is only made up from those who volunteered to register with MFAT’s SafeTravel register meaning there are likely more New Zealanders in these places.
This week, after The Dominion Post made inquiries, Air NZ managed to find Morley a plane ticket so he would be able to board a flight from Brisbane to Auckland tomorrow. He initially had to turn it down because the flight from the Solomon Islands to Brisbane was booked out but he got a lastminute seat on that flight and was yesterday looking likely to make it back.
Air New Zealand general manager Leeanne Langridge said: ’’We understand it is a difficult time for customers returning home from around the world and our customer team is doing all they can to help.’’