State and territory leaders deflate hopes for a New Zealand travel bubble

NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters has flagged an early arrangement with Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says he is against restraining the movement of people based on the slowest Australian state. Picture: Getty Images

State and territory leaders have knocked back New Zealand’s desire for an early travel bubble with parts of Australia that have quashed coronavirus, as the prime ministers of both countries prepare to give their feedback on a master plan for trans-Tasman travel.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has hardened in her position that travel between the two countries should not happen until Australia eliminates COVID-19 transmission.

Her Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, on Wednesday flagged an early arrangement with Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, which have much lower cases of coronavirus than NSW and Victoria.

“I’m certain when we’ve got all the protocols sorted out, which can be done very, very quickly because so much work has been done, we can be off,” Mr Peters told the Seven Network.

“Let’s not restrain the movement between our two countries based on the slowest state in Australia. The performance of Queens­land, the NT and, dare I say it, Tasmania, has been superior to New Zealand’s in many ways, even though we’ve done surprisingly good.”

His proposal comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Ms Ardern prepare responses to an Australian-New Zealand Leadership Forum blueprint on trans-Tasman travel compiled by experts from both nations’ foreign affairs departments, Customs departments and airlines.

Business groups have continued to push for an Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry plan to set up an initial flight route between Canberra and Wellington by July, but government sources consider the ANZLF blueprint as the most likely plan going forward.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told The Australian on Wednesday she understood Mr Peters’s keenness but would defer to Mr Morrison on global borders. “Given Queensland’s excellent performance, it’s no wonder New Zealanders would be keen to come here (but) international borders are a matter for the federal government,” she said.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner also said he would defer to the federal government, but predicted bigger states would catch up with the Top End’s coronavirus performance and allow a nationwide travel bubble soon.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein was more open to an early travel bubble but said he would wait until it was safe to have such an arrangement.

“We have been proactively pursuing this opportunity, working constructively with our New Zealand and federal counterparts along with the Hobart International Airport to enable this to happen once it is safe to do so,” he said.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham also wants to see a travel bubble as soon as possible to grow the Australian economy again. “We shouldn’t wait for the slowest state for us to open up travel with New Zealand,” he told the ABC.