• New Zealand will look to open up a two-way travel bubble with Australia “in the New Year, once remaining details are locked down”, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.
• First, she said the government would need to ensure it was not “taking on an unnecessary risk” and that it would be subject to Australia controlling future coronavirus outbreaks.
• Health Minister Greg Hunt said establishing one would be “very simple” given that New Zealanders are already permitted to visit Australia without quarantining.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Free travel across the Tasman could commence as soon as next month, as New Zealand looks to begin easing its hard borders.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed on Monday that the country is looking to open up to neighbours including Australia in the coming months.

“It is our intention to name a date… in the New Year, once remaining details are locked down,” Ardern told media following a meeting with her cabinet.

She said the government wanted to first ensure the country was not “taking on an unnecessary risk” before establishing a bubble, expressing particular concern about Australia’s handling of coronavirus outbreaks.

“It’s not a hypothetical. There have been several,” she said.

While Ardern refused to propose a timeline for the bubble, she suggested it may be early next year.

“We’ve never been wanting to put specific dates prematurely before we’ve made final decisions because people make plans, people book flights, and people may potentially have quarantine bookings that they could cancel… we don’t want anyone to do that prematurely until we have certainty around when it will open.”

While Ardern signalled a bubble with the Cook Islands is a bigger priority, it at least suggests Australians could begin travelling back across the ditch without having to quarantine.

“The airlines themselves need a bit of time to prepare to make sure they have sufficient planes and crew to fly the routes we’re talking about, both with the trans-Tasman and the Cook Islands.”

Under the current arrangements, New Zealanders are allowed to visit Australia without quarantining, but not the reverse.

Such an agreement means the groundwork for normalised travel is already laid, Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

“This is very simple because we already have committed to the principle of a two-way bubble,” Hunt told media in response to Ardern’s comments.

The Morrison government has previously indicated similar travel bubbles could be set up with countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

With those still some way off however, Australians will need to contend with exploring their own backyard.

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