New Zealand is yet to announce whether it will open quarantine-free travel to Australians, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has indicated that such an arrangement may only be with some Australian states.
Prime Minister Arden stated that there have been multiple Country to country interviews and there have been state by state negotiations and discussions and this was the reason that the process was taking longer than usual.
Arden states that they said “We’ve said: ‘Look, let’s just move state-by-state’ because it’s actually just taking a bit too much work, a bit too difficult, Let’s just operate as Australia has been operating with us. That’s helping to speed things up.”
Australia has opened its borders to its neighbour’s since last October with a few short suspensions when there were small coronavirus outbreaks in Auckland. But New Zealand has delayed returning the favour amid more frequent bursts of COVID-19 clusters across Australia.
Ardern did not give any details on when such a travel arrangement was expected, but local media have reported it may be operational by the end of April. The prime minister is expected to announce her decision in a post-Cabinet news conference later on in the week.
Pressure has been mounting on Ardern’s government to allow Australians entry as the country’s tourism sector struggles without international visitors. The opposition National Party is calling for quarantine-free travel with Australia to start immediately. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier this month that a two-way travel arrangement was in New Zealand’s hands.
Arden is ready to give Australia the same sort of border crossing that the Australians have given New Zealand. But that decision will only be made public once everything is set in stone so that there will be no confusions on the travel.
