Jacinda Ardern suggests trans-Tasman bubble is near

Jacinda Ardern has suggested a trans-Tasman bubble was near but depended on Australia’s approach to open borders.

Jacinda Ardern is talking up the possibility of a trans-Tasman bubble. Picture: Getty Images.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has suggested a trans-Tasman bubble was near as she defended her government’s strict coronavirus restrictions.

Ms Ardern told Sunrise the change in approach from Australia towards an NZ-Australia travel bubble made her more hopeful of reopening travel between the countries sooner.

“We were waiting for your borders to be open. It looks like you are adopting more of a hotspot regime. We are hoping it gives us an opportunity to open sooner,” she said.

“We will be looking to what decisions you make on what qualifies a hotspot, then we will make a call.”

The Australian reported on Tuesday that New Zealanders and Australians living across the Tasman would be allowed into the country without quarantining from ­November under a tourism industry “restart” plan, as Ms Ardern considers a state-by-state “travel bubble” before Christmas.

The plan calls for all state border closures to be removed by ­December 1 and people from New Zealand would fly into Australia in November without any ­restrictions. Australians would be able to go to New Zealand without quarantining in a hotel by January or February.

Speaking later on Nine’s Today Ms Ardern said whatever plan was put in place it needed to respect New Zealand’s strategy of keeping the country COVID-free.

“We will just need to make sure that that hot spot regime works on our side too. We are all quite dedicated to making it work in the future,” she said.

“We need to keep in mind things can change at any time. Obviously, Australia has had its experience in Victoria, we have had ours recently in Auckland, so we are all very mindful of that”.

Ms Ardern’s appearances on Australian television come as overseas voting for Kiwis in the country’s October 17 election begins today.

Defending her harsh lockdown measures, Ms Ardern said they had not only kept the death rate down but kept unemployment low.

“Our unemployment, we have managed to keep it low. it’s actually the predictions on employment that have come down, also our debt compared to other countries looking to remain low compared to others,” she told Sunrise.

“The most important measure of all, the impact on our people’s health, you know, our death rate. Very low. And so it all depends on what you measure success.

“We went hard early because it allowed us to open up quickly and it allowed us to get our economy moving quickly again and it allowed us to keep our people safe.

“But I’ve always felt that I did the right thing for us.”