Covid 19 coronavirus: Winston Peters says travel bubble with Australia is ‘closer than you think’

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says a transtasman travel bubble could “open next week” if Australia can guarantee that “they will send security to our country, not danger.”

But that could happen soon, Peters said.

The Australian government is considering a plan that would initially allow some New Zealanders to travel there without needing to self-quarantine upon arrival.

At first, the travel bubble proposal would only be open to residents of the South Island, which has no active community cases.

Peters said that in his opinion, a transtasman bubble would occur “much faster than people think” and “long before Christmas.”

“If the Australians could give us a guarantee on their protocols and send security to our country, there would be no danger, we could open next week, but we need that guarantee.”

Work on the possibility of allowing travel between parts of the two countries that were not affected by Covid-19, dubbed a ‘hotspot fix’, has continued despite Auckland’s second outbreak.

But the leader of the First New Zealand was not in favor of it being a one-way arrangement.

“If everything is Aussie style, then we will be drained of our wealth because we will go overseas without reciprocity from Australia.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this morning that a state-by-state transtasman bubble was “possible” before Christmas.

The speed to get it up and running would hinge on excluding states where Covid was still disrupting communities, citing Victoria, and assurances that there were firm borders between states with infected communities and those with which the journey was opening.

“And then you also have to make sure you have routes that do not have passengers in transit,” Ardern told Newstalk ZB.

“Currently, everything in and out of Australia and New Zealand has travelers in and out of Covid areas, so you have to completely segregate those travelers.”

He said it was important to know how Australia was dealing with border issues before any flights took off, but did not give a deadline for this to happen.

It was something he would be raising with Scott Morrison when they spoke next.

Australia’s Federal Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Simon Birmingham said yesterday that he expected Australians to be able to travel to New Zealand by the end of 2020.

“We are working hard to ensure that all precautions and security measures are in place at our airports, our border protections, inspection processes, to ensure that people can travel safely between Australia and New Zealand without the risk of encountering other air travelers who may be coming from higher risk countries.

“Ultimately if New Zealand opens up to Australia it will be New Zealand’s affair, but we are working to make sure we are ready and hopefully we can see those steps taken this year.”