Travellers from the South Island of New Zealand will be able to arrive in Australia without spending two weeks in quarantine from Wednesday.
Key points:
- Quarantine-free travel for people heading to Australia from New Zealand's South Island to restart from Wednesday
- Australians heading to New Zealand will still be required to do 14 days in hotel quarantine
- 'Green lane', or quarantine-free, travel is being discussed with Singapore
The trans-Tasman travel bubble has been suspended for a number of months due to COVID-19 outbreaks in both Australia and New Zealand.
The Commonwealth's Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly announced New South Wales and Victoria had agreed to accept some arrivals.
"Looking at the situation in the South Island of New Zealand, where they've not had any cases since last year, there is very good work being done to stop people from the North Island going to the South Island, so that is not a risk," Professor Kelly said.
"We hope to allow anyone who's been in the South Island of New Zealand, whether they're Australians, New Zealanders or other nationalities — as long as they've been there for 14 days — to come in quarantine free.
Travellers heading to New Zealand from Australia still need to quarantine for a fortnight on arrival.
On Friday, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet announced he would abolish hotel and home quarantine for vaccinated travellers entering his state.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was quick to insist the Premier's decision would not mean everyone could enter the country through Sydney, and argued the relaxation of restrictions would initially be extended to Australian citizens, residents and their immediate family members only.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said discussions were underway with other countries for "green lane", or quarantine-free, travel.
"We are in express discussion with Singapore," Mr Hunt said, noting he had met with the country's health minister Ong Ye Kung on Friday.
"We were discussing precisely this, an expedited green lane travel proposal for fully vaccinated travellers from Singapore.
"That's under, I'd call it rapid development — they're obviously a highly sophisticated society, they have a very good handle on the disease."
Mr Hunt said broader international travel was still a way off.
"Phase one is the opening up of double vaccinated travel for Australians to leave, and for Australia residents and immediate family to come back," he said.
"Phase two is for priority visa holders … such as students and priority workers.
"Phase three would be for fully vaccinated international travellers, that would include tourism, to arrive."
The minister said progress on that would be made in coming months, as the vaccination program progressed and health officials deemed it safe.
Any decisions to open up to unvaccinated travellers would follow.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTEwLTE3L3RyYXZlbC1mcm9tLW5ldy16ZWFsYW5kLXNvdXRoLWlzbGFuZC10by1iZS1hbGxvd2VkLXdpdGhvdXQtY292aWQvMTAwNTQ1NjI20gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMDU0NTYyNg?oc=5
2021-10-16 23:20:42Z
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