South Australia eyes two-way travel with NZ, after joining trans-Tasman travel ‘bubble’

South Australia eyes two-way travel with NZ, after joining trans-Tasman travel ‘bubble’

South Australia is hoping to line-up a reciprocal travel arrangement with New Zealand, after the state opened its borders to international arrivals from the Tasman nation.

Making the rounds this morning on breakfast television, Premier Steven Marshall said he plans to contact Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to “lay out the case” for a travel deal.

The Premier’s comments come a day after the state relaxed border restrictions to allow New Zealand travellers to fly directly into the state without the requirement of 14 days of quarantine, provided they do not transit through Victoria.

That announcement came shortly after New Zealanders unexpectedly arrived at Adelaide Airport, after transiting via domestic flights from New South Wales, with Marshall then flagging his government would consider joining the trans-Tasman travel agreement.

“I’m writing to Jacinda Ardern today to congratulate her on her election victory over the weekend and to ask her whether we can go one step further so people that come to SA can return to NZ without having to do the quarantine on the other side,” Marshall told Sunrise.

The Premier said he will also argue the “very low cases of community transmission” in SA and “extraordinarily good” numbers in NZ make the state and country ideal partners for a “travel bubble”.

“This is going to be great for our economy,” Premier Marshall said.

As part of the announcement to ease restrictions for New Zealand arrivals, South Australia will from 24 October relax its “hard border” with Victoria.

Under the new changes, Victorians will be allowed to travel to SA without an exemption. However, they will still be required to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival.

Until now, people arriving from Victoria had been banned from travelling into SA unless they held essential traveller status.

As of 24 October, the state will also expand its cross-border travel arrangement, with Victorian and SA border community members to be allowed to travel within 70 kilometres of the border without needing a reason to do so.


Featured image source: Facebook/Steven Marshall

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