Australia and New Zealand are looking to expand the trans-Tasman bubble. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden and Australia’s Scott Morrison met in Queenstown earlier this month.
Before leaving for New Zealand, Mr Morrison said: “We are very focused on supporting our Pacific family, and the idea of a bubble that goes beyond New Zealand and Australia is a real possibility.”
But according to Ms Arden: “In this early phase while we still do not have widespread vaccination … we would need to satisfy ourselves that there wasn’t the risk of COVID entering our community.”
Niue and the Cook Islands may be next in line to join New Zealand’s bubble, although the Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito Sio said Pacific countries want to “vaccinate their population first before discussion of any two-way bubble”.
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