Covid 19 coronavirus transtasman travel bubble: New Zealand arrivals to Melbourne spark Australian furor

Victorian Prime Minister Dan Andrews criticized Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the 17 New Zealanders who flew to Melbourne from Sydney after the travel bubble opened.

Yesterday it was reported that the Kiwis were detained after making the connecting flight because the state of Victoria has not signed the agreement that allows New Zealanders to travel without quarantine to New South Wales and the Northern Territory if they have not been in a Covid -19. hotspot in the previous 14 days.

Andrews clarified today that the New Zealanders were not detained and have not “necessarily done anything wrong.” He also targeted the Australian prime minister and told a press conference that he was “very disappointed” by the situation.

“You will know that around 5.30pm yesterday afternoon, 17 people from New Zealand, who had traveled on an international flight from New Zealand to Sydney, were able to board a plane and travel to Melbourne. They didn’t spend much time at the airport.” Andrews said.

“They left the airport within a few minutes, actually, of arriving. Our officers have absolutely no power to detain someone, to detain someone in those circumstances, particularly since they came from a very low virus part of the world. New Zealand is and we are very happy for them, in a very different set of circumstances than the circumstances we find ourselves in in Victoria. “

He said Victorian authorities were now working to contact travelers and inform them of the situation in Melbourne and the restrictions in place.

He added that they had “no way of knowing” where the travelers were in Melbourne, because the Australian Border Force had not delivered the cards.

“I want to be clear on this, I wrote to the Prime Minister this morning and we are disappointed that this happened given that I had written to the Prime Minister on this very issue the day before, saying that at some point we will join that travel bubble from New Zealand / Australia, but it is not appropriate now, “he said.

“This is indeed possible because we have not closed our border. I don’t think these people could have traveled internally to other states where the borders are closed. That is what the prime minister wants.”

“We have done it and now we see 17 people coming to our door without warning, without any structure, and we still cannot get the Australian Border Force cards on who these people are and where they have gone.”

The prime minister says it is “not acceptable” for international arrivals to travel freely to Victoria when Victorians cannot travel freely through their own state.

“I don’t think we would ever think about this happening again. Our position had been clear. We are not in the New Zealand bubble,” Andrews said.

“At a time when Victorians cannot move freely around their own state for the best public health reasons, it is not acceptable to me that people from another country, when we have expressly said that we do not want this to happen now, can enter in Melbourne.

Andrews has made it clear that, as far as he knows, the 17 New Zealanders have “not necessarily done anything wrong.”

“That will show, but I don’t think so,” he said.

When asked if they should be asked to leave, he said it was not a matter for the Victorian government.

“I do not issue visas. I do not control the free movement of other countries to our country and neither do I want to,” he said.

“That is a matter for the Commonwealth Government, not us. The bubble fix is ​​perfectly reasonable, but not for Victoria at the moment, and that is why we made that point clear.

“It seems that it has not come down to the level that it needed and these people have come. They themselves have done nothing wrong trying to come to Melbourne, but they should not have been allowed to come here. Because we have not signed on the bubble.”

“No warning. In fact, it is the exact opposite of what we signed up for. It has happened now, it cannot be undone.”

Andrews said he stands up every day “making sure all Victorians know that they cannot move freely around their own state for the best of reasons, and at the same time we have people who can enter from another country and we were the last to find out “.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” he said.