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New Zealand Agrees To Trans-Tasman Travel Bubble With Australia

New Zealand Agrees To Trans-Tasman Travel Bubble With Australia

Australia will have to keep Covid-19 cases low but we could soon have our first international holiday without quarantine.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

New Zealand has given Australians hope of their first international holiday without quarantining.

A trans-Tasman travel bubble has finally been agreed by New Zealand's Cabinet and it's hoped we'll be able to go across the ditch early next year.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the deal is dependent on whether Australia keeps its coronavirus transmission cases low, however didn't specific what level that would be.

She said there have already been discussions about what will happen to the plan if there is an outbreak.

PA

"It's not a hypothetical. There have been several," she said. "We would need to make arrangements to have potentially thousands of New Zealanders brought back to New Zealand in numbers that we wouldn't be able to facilitate, necessarily, managed isolation.

"We would need to know how we're dealing with the internal borders with Australia and also we would have to have the airlines ready. We are quite keen to see segregated airline staff for quarantine-free travel."

Despite these worries, she added that they're not 'insurmountable'.

An exact date on when we can expect to fly to New Zealand will be decided 'in the New Year once remaining details are locked down', however 7News says it will be by March at the latest.

The deal will also have to be approved by the Australian government before it can proceed.

Queensland became the latest state or territory in Australia that is allowing Kiwi travellers to head across the Tasman Sea to holiday without two weeks of quarantine. The Sunshine State joined New South Wales and South Australia in granting a one-way travel bubble.

New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said they are finalising the fine details with Australian counterparts and they hope to be able to announce more information soon.

"No-one wants to see our travellers coming from a safe zone country mixing with our travellers from somewhere else, so we'll be making sure that's all lined up," he said.

"The airlines themselves need a bit of time to prepare to make sure they have sufficient planes and crew to fly the routes we're talking about, both with the trans-Tasman and the Cook Islands."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia