New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has cast doubt over whether a full trans-Tasman travel bubble will happen in the first quarter of this year, as previously hoped.
In disheartening news for the tourism industry, Kiwi business and separated families, Australian and Kiwi officials remain at loggerheads on crucial points.
As she departed for her summer holidays in December last year, Ms Ardern announced her aim to establish the bubble within the first quarter of 2021.
On Tuesday in Wellington, she said grimly “things have changed a little bit since we set that goal and aspiration”.
At the heart of the disagreement are last month’s community cases in Auckland.
Ms Ardern was shocked that Australia suspended its one-way quarantine-free travel after just one case, when New Zealand officials believed the situation was under control.
That proved to be the case: while five cases have now been linked to the Pullman Hotel, through thorough contact tracing Kiwi authorities were able to prevent community transmission.
Ms Ardern suggested the Australian reaction prompted officials back to square one.
“That has raised some questions,” Ms Ardern said.
“With any bubble arrangement you’d understand that would want protocols in place so that there’s some predictability.
“So we are having to go back and just check that with those recent incidents, all of the activities of the different states or indeed the reaction to us is in keeping with what we’ve been working to.”
Included within the scenario planning are ‘what ifs’ in the event of outbreaks causing temporary border closures.
In these instances, it is not clear whether New Zealand would seek to repatriate stranded Kiwis or how it would – or even could – enforce quarantine, given strict caps on places.
Ms Ardern also said airlines were unlikely to want to operate trans-Tasman flights without agreed protocols that guaranteed viability.
“We have to ask the question whether or not the airlines will want to operate in an environment where within three hours, they can have cancellations for multiple days,” Ms Ardern said, referring to last month’s snap Australian border closure.
Australian states are already allowing travellers from New Zealand to visit without quarantining.
Ms Ardern has overseen a world-leading response to COVID-19, both from a public health and economic perspective, wildly endorsed by Kiwis in last year’s election.
She said she “absolutely feels the weight of New Zealanders’ preference sits heavily on the side of ‘whatever you do, do it carefully'”.
“I do not apologise for a moment for being cautious about this. You cannot unscramble the egg,” she said.
“It will be damaging economically if we open, close, open, close and then permanently shut … no one wants that.”
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