New Zealand agrees travel deal with Australia but won’t open borders to tourists for ‘a long time’
Jacinda Ardern attends Australian Cabinet meeting to discuss resuming Tasman Sea route
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Australia and New Zealand have agreed to look at resuming travel between the two countries, with its leaders stressing that this is still some way off.
Both countries have shut their borders to non-citizens for more than a month and have made people returning from overseas go into quarantine.
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, said the travel agreement between Australia and New Zealand would not begin immediately.
Ms Ardern became the first world leader for more than 60 years to join an Australian Cabinet meeting, appearing via video link on Tuesday to discuss travel across the Tasman Sea.
Following the meeting, Ms Ardern said: "When we feel comfortable and confident that we both won't receive cases from Australia, but equally that we won't export them, then that will be the time to move.”
"Neither of us want cases of COVID coming between our countries,” she added.
Ms Ardern also said that New Zealand’s borders would remain closed to the rest of the world for “a long time”.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said that travel across the Tasman Sea would be the first of the country’s overseas travel routes to reopen.
"When we are seeing Australians travel from Melbourne to Cairns, at about that time I would expect everything being equal we would be able to fly from Melbourne to Auckland or Christchurch,” he told reporters.
Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas Airways Ltd, stated that regular flights between the countries could start soon after domestic flights reopened in Australia.
"It could be a very good model for the international market opening up in phases," he said.
Both Australia and New Zealand have a coronavirus mortality rate of one per cent, far below most other countries.
Australia has recorded around 6,800 Covid-19 cases and 96 fatalities, while New Zealand has had 1,137 infections and 20 deaths from the virus.
Additional reporting from Reuters
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments