“Confirmation from the Prime Minister that the Australian travel bubble is on the same go-slow schedule as the Cook Islands is a blow to all New Zealanders and Australians,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Suggestions that airlines with grounded fleets need time to get up and running is more of an indictment on the Government than anything else.

“Tell them when to be ready and I'm sure they’ll be ready.

“On 9 November it was reported that New Zealand Ministry of Health officials were considering lowering thresholds for quarantine-free travel with Australia.

“That same day the Prime Minister said while she’d had no advice on that she was considering tolerance levels of transmission as they related to Australia’s interstate borders.

“Those tolerance levels are now essentially academic – every interstate border in Australia has been relaxed, and New Zealanders can travel to Australia without needing to quarantine.

“Something very odd has happened over the past month to shift the prospect of quarantine free trans-Tasman travel to March 2021 at the earliest.

“Again, the Prime Minister is doing a very poor job of explaining why.”

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