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Today’s announcement that Queensland is opening its border to Kiwis does not change New Zealand’s closed border approach, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today.
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“When we reopen, we will look to do that with Australia as a whole,” said Jacinda Ardern. Source: 1 NEWS
The Australian state is the latest, after New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Victoria and Tasmania, to allow kiwis to enter without undergoing quarantine.
However, New Zealanders must self-quarantine upon returning to New Zealand.
Ardern said the Queensland opening “was no different than what we’ve seen with other starts.”
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As of December 12, kiwis can be flown to the Australian state without having to quarantine there. Source: 1 NEWS
“It does not change our approach, when we reopen we will look to do it with Australia as a whole and we will need to have protocols in place to know how it will work.
“The reopening of individual states does not change our approach for now.”
A travel bubble with Australia was “something we’ve been working on very diligently,” Ardern said, yet Australia’s state-by-state approach to Covid created complications for New Zealand.
“One of the problems has been, rather than an all-Australia approach, Australia chose to move from one state to another.
“That means New Zealand would have to decide whether or not we would have to close our border in an outbreak, depending on how other states react,” Ardern said.
“I am optimistic that we will certainly have it openly at some point in the future.”
