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Queensland reopens its borders to New Zealand travelers.
Queensland will reopen its borders to New Zealand travelers starting Saturday night.
New Zealand’s status as a safe travel zone country will be restored from 6pm, the Queensland state government announced.
It will mean that those traveling on flights to the state will no longer face two weeks of quarantine when they land.
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The bubble of round trips from New Zealand has been intermittent with Australia due to a series of recent community cases.
But today’s announcement sees Queensland join Victoria and New South Wales, the two states whose borders are already open to kiwis.
This is also good news for New Zealand travelers already in mandatory quarantine in Australia, who will be able to emerge from quarantine once the clock strikes midnight on Saturday, provided they have tested negative.
Bob Edme / AP
Vaccines have been distributed on both sides of the Tasman.
Queensland Health Director Dr Jeannette Young called it “wonderful news” and said it was the best case.
“At the time, AHPPC discussed the need to take action due to the increased community outreach in New Zealand,” Young said.
“It was our responsibility to exercise caution. We did the right thing and now we can move on. “
The border restrictions were most recently implemented during the Papatoetoe outbreak which led to Auckland moving to a level three alert lockdown and the rest of the country moving to level two.
In recent weeks there has been talk of a round-trip bubble with Australia that will open in April, signaling the return of tourists to both countries.
Apparently the Australian government had grown cold with the idea of having a joint set of rules when it suddenly suspended travel without quarantine following the Covid-19 case in Northland.
That move caught New Zealand by surprise and angered Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, because it is understood that an agreed deal had almost been finalized in which such unilateral action would not have been possible.
Throughout February, the Australian government became more supportive that each country effectively had the right to suspend travel as it saw fit, opening up the possibility for borders to be opened.
Helping the case is the ongoing launch of the vaccine in both countries.
By the end of March, New Zealand will have vaccinated 50,000 of its border workers, while across the trench more than 200,000 Australians have already been vaccinated.
