New Zealand Travel Bubble Announcement

[Pushka]

What I'm getting from all the people I'm hearing from is they have no issues with the kiwis themselves, the issue is that the Fed government offered a bubble, we said no, and yet here we are.

Although apparently all states were warned this might happen anyway as there is no restriction on moving to different states assuming the appropriate approvals have been applied for.

 

[DC3]

Although apparently all states were warned this might happen anyway as there is no restriction on moving to different states assuming the appropriate approvals have been applied for.

Just waiting for some Kiwi sightings to be reported at Henley Beach.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Just waiting for some Kiwi sightings to be reported at Henley Beach.

Should we make them wear All Blacks Rugby shirts or Silver Ferns so we can easily identify them?

Post automatically merged: Oct 19, 2020

Presuming you could enter NZ, you’d still be spending 2 weeks in a quarantine hotel.
I don’t think the accommodation they have is any more salubrious than ours.

Food and wine might be better.

 

[RooFlyer]

So, more on the Victorian "issue" - the long wail and angry finger pointing at the Feds by Premier Andrews:

Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram says Victorian health authorities raised no objections when they were told last week New Zealanders arriving in Sydney under the travel bubble would be able to enter Victoria.

Mr Outram said there were no objections offered at a meeting last Friday from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.

...
“There was a meeting last Friday at Melbourne airport at 2pm, convened by (Department of Health and Human Services),” Mr Outram told Senate Estimates hearings on Monday morning..

“This movement of passengers from NSW to Victoria was discussed. So clearly at an operational level the Victorian services recognised what was happening. And no objections were raised.”

It has to be asked again. Why did Premiers Andrews make such a song and dance? Either the internal communication within his various departments is poor to the point of reckless or maybe his calling out was making politics of a health 'scare'. Ditto Premier McGowan of WA, although, again, I'm not up on their arrival protocols and if any were broken.

Fair dinkum, this is getting beyond a joke. The South Australians, like the Tasmanians, took unexpected Kiwi arrivals in their stride, even though some of the arrivals had transited not one, but two states:

Five passengers from New Zealand have arrived in Adelaide, despite the state not being a part of the Australia-NZ travel bubble.

Three people flew in over the weekend and an additional two arrived on Monday via other Australian cities and have been taken to quarantine in medi-hotels for two weeks, according to SA Premier Steven Marshall.
...

“Our systems here in SA works extraordinarily well,” Mr Marshall said.

“The way the arrangements work at Adelaide Airport is that when passengers arrive they are asked if they have been in an area which is not authorised over the last 14 days.

“These passengers identified themselves so obviously the protocol of putting them in hotel quarantine was followed.”

 

[blackcat20]

Although apparently all states were warned this might happen anyway as there is no restriction on moving to different states assuming the appropriate approvals have been applied for.

Yet multiple premiers are unhappy and appear to have been caught off guard

 

[DC3]

Should we make them wear All Blacks Rugby shirts or Silver Ferns so we can easily identify them? ...

Look out for anyone asking why they can’t find Burger King, and where is the nearest dairy, and where can they get some L&P, and where to shop for jandals.

 

[dajop]

It has to be asked again. Why did Premiers Andrews make such a song and dance?

Pure politcing. To tacitly allow it, but blame someone else for it if anything goes wrong. I think the clue is that he said maybe the best solution is to have direct flights into Victoria from NZ so the government has more control .... if he'd entered the bubble straight away, he a) would have had to agree to the national hotspot definition and b) face the wrath of a population who've been locked down for months (hint: the comments in The Age are overwhelmingly anti people coming into the state from overseas, illogically so). This way he can plead that he was forced into it. Goodness I'm in a cynical mood today.

 

[RooFlyer]

I agree. But I have just made the point as multiple State Premiers said no to being included in the bubble when asked and a number of people on this forum and in the media have indicated that the Premiers should have known that with NSW and NT saying Yes that that was actually a Yes for all states and territories.

Whereas No, could have actually really meant No, as the Federal Government could have issued Visa's to limit travel to the regions that said Yes.

Other question not being asked to the Feds is why did they not act on the answers received to their question?
Why is there no media heat on this?

If the "question" is "Do you want to belong to a travel bubble with NZ?" Then , OK no flights from NZ for you. No problem. But onwards travel - which is normal, domestic movement within Australia - is different. The NZ arrivals follow domestic rules, like everyone else. Fly, drive, walk, whatever. Once you are in NSW you are free to move.

Yes, the Feds could have - and arguably should have - issued conditional visas, restricting onwards travel. But see the evidence tendered in Senate Estimates today, per report above. The Victorian heath authorities were in the room, in the discussion, when onwards travel was discussed. No issue raised. The reason there is little media heat is probably because, on the evidence we've seen, it was the Victorian authorities who seemed to have failed to recognise what was being discussed. My own suspicion is that Prof Sutton recognised the low health risk in the onward travel and didn't raise any objection on health grounds. But when the Premier heard about it, he found a reason to complain about the Feds.

Yes, he didn't want international arrivals, but failed to put things in place, once international borders were announced to be opened in NSW and NT (its not as if it happened without notice, overnight) , and his bureaucrats when told onwards travel might happen, yet again failed to act.

I'm sorry for Victorians who think they've been kicked while they are down, but look to your own authorities on this one.

 

[Happy Trails]

I don't have the link to hand, but it was reported that Sutton verbally OK'd it, in Andrews' presence, at the Oct 3rd presser.

The audio that undermines Dan’s fury

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ fury over the New Zealand travel bubble has been undermined by revelations that he said nothing at a press conference just weeks ago when his chief health officer said Kiwis were “free” to travel on to Victoria.

www.news.com.au

Edit: Link added.

 

[Pushka]

Yet multiple premiers are unhappy and appear to have been caught off guard

Yes, agree but I wonder if it's all a bluff so that they can't be blamed for letting Internationals come here. There are so many games being played right now.

Post automatically merged: Oct 19, 2020

I don't have the link to hand, but it was reported that Sutton verbally OK'd it, in Andrew's presence, at the Oct 3rd presser.

There is apparently an audio somewhere.

 

[jakeseven7]

Yes, agree but I wonder if it's all a bluff so that they can't be blamed for letting Internationals come here. There are so many games being played right now.

Post automatically merged: Oct 19, 2020

There is apparently an audio somewhere.

They all need to be locked in a room and none of them can come out until we have domestic borders and this NZ bubble mess sorted. If only they had such a meeting soon for the PM and all the Premiers......

 

[DC3]

Anyone heard any comments from the Prime Minister lately?

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

They all need to be locked in a room and none of them can come out until we have domestic borders and this NZ bubble mess sorted. If only they had such a meeting soon for the PM and all the Premiers......

Wasn’t that National Cabinet? Now not requiring unanimous approval, and not held for four weeks and counting owing to other obligations and operational technicalities....lol

 

[DC3]

They (kiwis) still have to isolate for 14 days after returning home...kinda makes it certain it will be a looong trip.
There wont be tourists popping back and forward for a few days away.

Now that the Kiwis have since started arriving in Oz, do we know if they are mostly on one-way tickets?

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Now that the Kiwis have since started arriving in Oz, do we know if they are mostly on one-way tickets?

Air NZ said those travelling with them to Australia on the quarantine-free flights (i.e. not on the flights for international transit passengers who must quarantine on arrival in Australia) were 90% on one-way tickets.

So probably mostly Australians who had been in NZ not wanting to pay the quarantine fee, or NZers with Australian family, or retired NZers willing to stay in Australia for months (given there is 2-week quarantine with hefty fee on return to NZ).

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Can Australians overseas fly to NZ and stay for a week or so then enter the bubble to get back to Australia without quarantine?

No. Firstly the only people allowed to enter NZ are NZ citizens, Australians ordinary resident in NZ, and approved exemptions.

Secondly, NZ has mandatory 14 day quarantine (can be longer if test positive or a close contact of someone that tests positive) with hefty fee.

On the other hand, NZ does allow airside international transit (under 24 hours). Obviously anyone doing this won't be eligible for quarantine-free arrival to Australia because they would not have been in NZ (excluding hot spots) for the required 14 days prior to entry to Australia.

 

[clifford]

They all need to be locked in a room and none of them can come out until we have domestic borders and this NZ bubble mess sorted. If only they had such a meeting soon for the PM and all the Premiers......

It's called Parliament...

 

[TheRealTMA]

It's called Parliament...

Was not this issue supposed to be discussed at the last, abandoned, National cabinet?


”Parliament”, federally and in states seem to only have limited sittings these days of COVID-19.

 

[RooFlyer]

Was not this issue supposed to be discussed at the last, abandoned, National cabinet?

No, it was said when the meeting was put off a week that it did not need to go through that meeting as everyone had delegated to troops lower down (ie Health Officers and Border Force) but yes, might have been intended to be discussed.
______

A bit more on the Victorians' awareness of NZ arrivals to what I posted above - the bolded bit.

The Victorian government was present when it was discussed. They were made aware that this was going to occur. They raised no objections in the meetings and, furthermore, expressly authorised individuals who were arriving into Sydney from New Zealand to be able to travel on into Victoria,” Mr Tudge said.

Now, Tudgie might be fibbing, but I doubt there will be anything bright forward to show that. Tudge is calling on the Victorians to release the e-mail trail.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Don’t people from NSW traveling to VIC by air have to quarantine for 14 days?