Travel bubble: New Zealand minister says July is 'too early' to resume Australia flights

New Zealand rejected calls by business leaders today, Thursday, June 4, to restart flights to Australia within a month, as too short a time frame.

An Australian and New Zealand business lobby group said it intended to take a proposal to governments this week to kick off a travel bubble between the pair's capital cities with a test flight as soon as Wednesday, July 1.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters said no plans had been agreed as the two countries continue to work on a blueprint to resume travel, saying that date "was too early."

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said earlier this month that September was a more realistic date for the resumption of flights.

Peters told reporters: "It will be over to the Australians more than us because they have got the federal system and they are still not flying interstate." He added it was unlikely the first flights would be the Wellington-Canberra route, given there were more populous cities in each country.

"I have nothing against Canberra but I am for mass population movement by way of demand rather than capital cities," he said.

Falling numbers of active and new coronavirus cases in both countries have paved the way for the proposed easing of travel restrictions. New Zealand reported no new Covid-19 cases for a 13th consecutive day on Thursday and has only one active case. Australia has reported daily single-digit and low double-digit numbers of new cases in recent weeks and has 490 active cases, with only 25 people in hospital.

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Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.