Covid 19 coronavirus: Australian states struggle to find details of Kiwi passengers

Australian state officials are reportedly struggling to gain access to airline passenger lists to identify travelers who have arrived from New Zealand under the transtasman bubble deal.

It comes after flights from New Zealand landed at Sydney Airport on Friday with international passengers who, for the first time in seven months, did not need to self-quarantine upon arrival.

However, while the arrangements were meant to allow New Zealanders to travel freely to New South Wales and the Northern Territory, 23 have infiltrated WA and 55 into Victoria without the knowledge of state governments.

Five travelers have also entered Tasmania and are currently in hotel quarantine.

Victoria officials have reportedly asked the Australian Border Force to expedite the release of passenger lists to avoid a repeat of the surprise arrival when more flights land from New Zealand.

It comes after the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued a statement Sunday night revealing that it had contacted the 55 travelers to Victoria.

The statement read: “Travelers, some in family groups and most staying in private homes, received information about Covid-19 and current health instructions from Victoria.”

“Three of the travelers did not cross the border into Victoria and remained in NSW, and one who was in Victoria returned to NSW today.

“Twenty-one of the 55 travelers arrived at Melbourne Airport on Friday and Saturday.

“The rest arrived using other modes of transport.

“Authorized DHHS officials continue to receive incoming flights at Melbourne Airport and provide information to arriving passengers.”

Meanwhile, the 23 people who “jumped borders” from New South Wales to Western Australia are in mandatory quarantine.

Prime Minister Mark McGowan first announced Sunday morning that 25 people had arrived in the state, before the number was officially revised to 23 later that day.

He called for “better management” after New Zealanders entered without waivers.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison lets state officials contact airlines pursuant to a decision made by the national cabinet on September 18.

“Upon arrival in Australia from New Zealand, passengers are advised to check the entry requirements for other states, including the need to undergo a hotel quarantine if traveling to WA,” a federal government spokesman said on Weekend.

More flights are expected to arrive from New Zealand in the coming days.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Daniel Andrews called on the federal government to “work” with Victoria, saying the state never agreed to be part of the travel bubble.

It comes after Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge claimed that the Victorian government “authorized” a group of 17 people who came from New Zealand to enter the state.

Under the agreement between the two nations, New Zealanders can travel without quarantine to both New South Wales and the Northern Territory, on the condition that they have not been to a Covid-19 hotspot in the 14 days prior to their trip. .

Tudge lashed out at the Victorian government, saying, “The fact that people can’t remember being in meetings, people can’t remember emails were sent, people can’t remember making decisions, it’s just deja vu. in relation to the Victorian government.

“That seems to be a pattern now of not being able to remember what is happening, not being able to recall being in meetings, not remembering having sent emails to authorize such activities.”

However, Andrews responded to suggestions that Victoria agreed to be part of the travel bubble saying “we can’t just have people wandering around from another country.”

He said they had now been informed that 55 travelers had arrived from New Zealand.

“We have to find these people,” he said.

“We’re calling them, one of them was in Byron Bay. And yet they told us that they had landed and traveled to Melbourne.”

He said his “advice to Minister Tudge is, rather than doggedly defending this, to work with us and make sure Victoria is not part of a bubble we never agreed to be in.”

“Now if that’s not possible, let’s talk about what else could happen. I don’t want to close our border, but he should have a conversation with his boss.

“I should have a conversation with the Prime Minister, who, I’ve lost count of how many times he has said, ‘Thank you for not closing your border.’

“It’s New Zealand today, but who knows what the next bubble will be, who will it be with? We have authorized officers at the airport now, because this has happened. We didn’t think it would happen, but it did.

“We’re going to follow up as much as we can. But I don’t control borders and I don’t control what happens at Sydney airport and I don’t think anyone can reasonably expect me to. I’m not looking for a dispute on this, I just wanted to fix it. “.

However, Andrews said he couldn’t stop people from entering the state.

“I have no power to prevent them from coming here.”

He said that hopefully the authorities would have “greater visibility” about the fact that they were coming so that they could chat with each of the travelers and make sure they knew what the coronavirus rules were.

As Andrews and Tudge exchanged a war of words, Western Australian Prime Minister Mark McGowan revealed that 23 travelers from New Zealand had flown to Perth overnight, despite their status not being part of the deal either.

All but one of the newcomers, a boy who is now in a “quarantine arrangement” with a family member, have been quarantined at a hotel.

McGowan told reporters that the situation is “fluid”, adding that his government was “doing everything possible to handle it.”

“We would prefer better management of these deals, but this is something that happened and it was out of our control.

“If New South Wales and the NT want to open up to other countries, now there is a problem as to how to handle the borders of those people who come from other countries.”

“Our system has worked, we managed to pick up these people and quarantine them.

“It would be great if [the Federal Government] they were to better assist us in managing these things by providing adequate information to the state government about people who might be taking flights across state lines.

Tudge previously responded to the Victorian government, saying he was aware of the arrangements that led to 17 New Zealanders attempting to enter Melbourne on Friday.

Health Director Brett Sutton “represented” the state at a meeting to discuss what should happen if New Zealanders flew from Sydney or Darwin to another Australian state, Tudge said.

“We further understand from today’s Age newspaper that the prime minister’s own department had given authorization to people who had come from New Zealand to Sydney to then travel to Victoria,” Tudge told reporters.

“So the Victorian Government was present when the issue was discussed, they were informed that this was going to happen, they raised no objections at the meetings and also expressly authorized people arriving in Sydney from New Zealand to travel in Victoria.” .

Tudge asked Andrews to “reveal” the emails that “show, clearly and demonstrably, that they authorized people to enter Victoria”, which would “completely clarify this.”

Yesterday, Andrews said he was “very disappointed” that travelers were able to enter his state. “

“We are disappointed that this happened as I had written to the Prime Minister on this very issue the day before, saying that at some point we will join the New Zealand / Australia travel bubble, but it is not appropriate now.”

“We don’t want anything at all to undermine the incredible work that Victorians have done and are doing. Some things have gone wrong here. We are very much at the end of it, not necessarily part of it. We made it clear that we did not want to be a part, no we could be part of the bubble fix right now. “

Andrews said it is “not fair” when Victorians cannot move freely through their own state for people to come from another country, “without us knowing.”