But Ardern still won't commit to a date for the two-way bubble to officially open as the Government is still assessing the risk.
She told the House this afternoon that the Government does not "consider it safe to do so" yet.
National leader Judith Collins, meanwhile, has called on Ardern to show leadership and commit to a date for the bubble to come into force.
"I don't understand why New Zealand is being held back from being able to actually access Australia and to be able to get that money off the Australians and keep our tourist industry going," she told media.
Previously, the Government has mooted the bubble being opened by the end of March.
But that plan appears to have been pushed back after a number of recent Covid-19 outbreaks in Auckland.
Speaking in Parliament this afternoon Ardern also pointed out that there had been a number of outbreaks in Australia as well.
That will come as little comfort to Morrison, however.
When asked by Australian media this morning how far away the bubble was, Morrison said: "That's a matter for the New Zealand Government."
"If the New Zealand Government doesn't wish Australians to visit New Zealand and spend money in Queenstown or Wellington or other parts of the country, that's a matter for them."
He said opening the bubble has always been a matter for the New Zealand Government.
"I'm happy for them to open it up as soon as the Prime Minister and her Government would like to do that."
According to Collins, that's exactly what the Government should do.The fired-up opposition leader told Parliament the Government needed to move on this issue quickly.
"Open the borders, let people in."
She said every day the border is not open to Australians, that was money lost for New Zealand.
Morrison made similar comments this morning, saying the lack of bubble was "benefiting our economy – particularly, our travel and tourism industry,
"But if Australians can't go to Queenstown, I'm hoping they're going to Cairns."
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told the House that the Government has not got a specific date when the bubble can open, at this stage.
He said that New Zealand and Australia were negotiating a joint decision-making framework.
"It was the Australians who have indicated that that is not the way they wish to proceed and, therefore, we are having to recalibrate our response accordingly."
That recalibration includes more of a focus on a specific state's bubbles with New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Act leader David Seymour has called on the Government to open a different kind of bubble with Australia – a business bubble.
His party today delivered, what he has called, the Covid-19 Response Plan 2.0 – a plan which sets out what New Zealand's next steps to responding to Covid-19 should be.
This is a system that is already in place in Taiwan, where people can enter the country for business purposes under strict conditions.
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Comments
Ignore them both. Morrison has been hopeless in the face of Covid. Had it not been for most of the state governments here following the lead of Jacinda Ardern in defiance of Morrison, Australia would have followed tRump to disaster. And Third Choice Collins is never worth listening to, the Nats would have followed tRump as well.
Australia is still not unified, and not to be trusted.
So the most transparent govt ever lied to us again, what's new?
Given that your comment appears totally unrelated to the article above, you might need to be a bit more specific as to:
- which Govt you're referring to?
- what the lie is?
- what the previous lies were?
As to your question about what's new, Nothing. The NZ Govt continues to rely on science and is confounding it's critics, both internal and external, by how successful it is, The Aussies continue to yo-yo through the pandemic because they are making political decisions on pandemic management that the virus ignores in favour of science.
The labour Government,
There is plenty of PPE
We test all boarder workers
There is plenty of flu jabs
The list is endless, and if you have not noticed Auckland is Yo Yoing four times now??? no Australian state has done that, so yet again your huff and puff for labour is unfounded when put to the test.
the also only listen to certain scientific facts which supports their cause of instilling fear in the population
Characterizing criticism from crusher as being "under fire" is a bit of a stretch, "a damp squib" might be the better match. Morrison, well, who cares what that pompous stuffed shirt thinks, he's been wrong at every turn so far in this pandemic.
Besides, in our current Govt it is the Cabinet that makes the decision, not the Prime Minister, she has only one vote. Although the Cabinet would be wise to follow her lead considering her success to date. Stick with the science, it's worked for NZ thus far.