Trans Tasman Bubble, Go New Zealanders!!

[Helen427]

Have to give credit to the people who flew from New Zealand to Sydney and on then to Melbourne, Victoria and haven't broken any laws as per News today.

 Let's get our international travel back up and running using Commonsense.

@Robin4 @Kath9 @Sandra126 @Cathie19  and all others in Australia you have to see the Kiwi ingenuity no 8 wire attitude and Closer Economic Relations shining through...

We will get our economies and lives back on track one way or another.

[Kath9]

@Helen427 good to see! It will still be a while before anyone will be allowed into WA though. But I reckon I'll make NZ my first trip back overseas. I've never been!

[Helen427]

@Kath9As they say, someone has to Man up to get economies up and running.

There's a number of IATR regulations that are stringent that have always been in place.

They put out a report in the last week or 2 that said 44 people world wide in total developed/ caught Covid19 on aeroplanes since March whilst traveling & as we know they use 4 base symptoms so  in all honesty it's unlikely one will catch Covid through Air Travel.

 I'm not sure if Simon Birmingham, Australian Tourism Minister is aware of who is pushing buttons here behind the scenes however don't think he will be impressed that one of them took a swipe at him for rejecting Public monies funding to do obscure research papers around 2 yrs ago....Sometimes it's not what you know but who you know to help restore world peace & harmony....

I hope you are all aware that Professor of Physics Shaun Hendy here in NZ & his academic associates have pushed for 2 yrs of #NoFlying so that's also where the 2yrs of Lockdowns has come from... He's not an economist, nor is it his right to impose such irrational behaviours on us worldwide.

 It's awesome you want to come to NZ @Kath9 , any particular spots?

 It would be great to meet you & you know where to find me & other locals on here.

[Robin4]

@Helen427 

Well Helen, it is sort of one way traffic at the moment, isn't it!

Nobody from Australia (even those states that have a better record than New Zealand) are allowed to enter New Zealand......NZ's borders are closed and there is no indication from the NZ government when Australians will be allowed to travel to New Zealand.

The first day Australia opening travel for New Zealanders to NSW, 17 took advantage to enter Sydney, immediately booked and boarded a flight to Melbourne in another state of Victoria (an un-permitted destination for overseas travelers) and promptly disappeared into the Melbourne community.

I guess what you are saying Helen, it's fine for us in Australia to accept all the risk from outsiders while you in NZ will accept none.

We are in the midst of a global pandemic at the moment which is on the rise all the time. Yesterday for the first time new COVID-19 infections worldwide topped 400,000 for the day, new deaths topped 6,000 for the day.

We in Australia have put in the hard yards here. This is yesterdays COVID-19 status.....

And of those 12 new infections 8 were from returning overseas travelers who went straight into mandatory quarantine!

The only time one state let their guard down with overseas travelers, the whole nation paid a huge price!

Helen we all want nothing more than to get back to travel business as usual, but please realise our lives are more important than the rest of the worlds tourists dollars.

Your Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern realises the importance of maintaining the integrity of your borders, please don't criticise us and our government for attempting to maintain the integrity of ours!

I find it rather disturbing that you feel inclined to give credit to foreigners who found a loophole in Australia's security measures to suit their own aims....not good form just at this time Helen, and not something to be proud of!

Cheers.......Rob

[Helen427]

Shame on the New Zealand Government then @Robin4  for allowing Australian Wallabies Rugby Team in for the Bledisloe Cup then huh?

The same Gvt and Director General of Public Health that gives privileges to Rugby players to have Gym Equipment in MIQ & don't have to do the same lag as others in MIQ.

There's all sorts of crazy things going on in this world and much of it is power games.

I wish they would open our borders and do the jobs they should have been doing all these years there to prevent people travelling who have serious infectious diseases well prior to this carry on.

I miss my Australian visitors very much and had a delightful South Korean nurse who has lived in Australia for over 15 yrs when we went into Lockdown staying. That memory & distress it caused her & her family will never be forgotten.

We all need to look at the bigger picture @Robin4 #InProportion

They didn't close borders to everyone back in the 1918-1919 Epidemic, Pandemic, nor subsequent ones in more recent years.

Life was much harder in that era for all. We have so many modes of transport, communication and healthcare centres within reach those before us didn't.

If only they disclosed the daily figures separately for those who have 1- Runny nose/sneezes 2- Fever 3- Cough and who have been told they have Covid.

We all must remember our Politicians, Mayors and Public Health Depts are all been paid per test and per head of population per day of lockdowns.

They never  ever bothered before if people had those basic symptoms and went to work so why  is this "Virus" so "Tricky"? - to quote the words originating from  Prof Robin Shattock and others who brubber Stamped Scripts 

#WhyAreTheyDoingThis?

[Robin4]

@Helen427 

Helen, the Bledisloe Cup was an entirely different scenario...participants were quarantined and all efforts were quite properly taken by the NZ government to make sure COVID-19 did not enter the country.

Australia did the same with the NRL allowing the  entire NZ Warriors team, players, staff and families to relocate to Tamworth in NSW for the sake of keeping the competition in tact.

These were properly sanctioned, controlled and coordinated events.

The thing that makes me savage Helen.....and it's nothing against you, NZ and Australia have been amongst the best countries in the world at managing this pandemic. Employers are screaming out for staff here in my state! All the itinerant jobs that were done by foreign visitors no longer have foreign visitors to do them....fruit-picking, hospitality, labouring jobs, employees in some industries are virtually naming their employment price. The dole queues in this state are not great, just like NZ, both countries are fairly much back to business as usual. The current unemployment rate in South Oz is 7.8%! That means for every 8 people out of 100  who don't have a job......92 do!  That's our hard work and good government planning on both sides of the ditch that has done that.

I desperately want to see the lifting of travel restrictions between not just us Helen but the entire South Pacific.

But, how do you think it looks to the authorities when a group of overseas visitors (17) had travel approval to visit NSW and NT, and on the very first day of the opening of our border to rank and file New Zealanders........they end up in Victoria!! The system got exploited on the very first day!

It's not what those visitors from NZ may have brought with them, it's what they might take away, Victoria is still classified as a hot-spot. We don't want to re-infect you over there, we are actually thinking of the ramifications of people leaving hot-spots!

Can you see what I am getting at Helen, if everyone just does the right thing we can get together again soon enough......But to watch Daniel Andrews face during a press conference when he was told 17 tourists from New Zealand had entered the Melbourne community, his shoulders slumped, he was lost for words, it was heartbreaking to see.

We need to set an example to the rest of the world, not show them how to rort the system. If we keep on following the example of day 1, it will be no time at all and both countries will be back in full lock-down again.....and neither you nor I want that!

Cheers........Rob

[Helen427]

@Robin4In fact people are permitted to travel and arrive in different destinations in Australia according to Media Reports today.

Looks like Dan may not have had very good advice on Common Laws...

Incidentally there are many people still stranded accross the world who are simply trying to get home as they are entitled to.

As we well know there are those who Fly In Fly Out for jobs all over the place who have been very badly impacted on.

The whole situation the 'Scientists" have caused the world is appalling.

[Robin4]

@Helen427 

Unfortunately you have been receiving some incorrect advice Helen.

Travel permits are issued to NZ travelers without the need to quarantine, in NSW and NT only.

Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania have not opened their borders to any un- quarantined overseas arrivals. 

My latest advice was of 29 minutes ago Helen!

It's not the fact that these travellers could not find their way into restricted states....obviously they could and did! We even had a bunch of them show up at Adelaide Airport today.

The fact is they signed a declaration that their travel permit was for the states of NSW and NT and they have chosen to totally ignore that declaration and go wherever they see fit. 

It's our mistake Helen in not policing the travel conditions of un-quarantined travelers a bit better, we are just too trusting.

We are taking 3,500 returning expats into the country each week but, they go into mandatory government controlled quarantine.....every one of them. They are not just allowed to walk out the Airport terminal with their bags and disappear into society! 

And that is what the problem is with this travel bubble at the moment!

Cheers.........Rob

[Helen427]

@Robin4From what we have heard/ read from both sides of the ocean many of those who went into Victoria either live there and were returning home or were flying back to places like Western Australia to resume their lawful lives.

 One person had been to New Zealand for a family members funeral.

 It's unreasonable & disproportionate to deny people to live their lawful rights.

Dan Andrews needs to learn law and learn to adhere to it, as do the Scientists who are calling the shots. 

#InProportion 

[Rod-And-Lili0]

Thankfully this is all old news. Covid will not be eradicated in the near future only contained. You can only do what has been shown to help prevent covid. Wr wrlcome our first guest from Aussie in 7 days👍

[Robin4]

@Rod-And-Lili0 

Good on you Rod, You can be quite confident that anyone coming from Australia will not be affected by Covid-19. 

We are going gangbusters with our hosting at the moment.....as are most other hosts here in Oz and there is no sign of Covid spreading into the community.

As far as the long term effects of Covid are concerned I am of the opinion it is going to be like the flue.....we will never be free of it because it is mutating all the time. Each year we are going to have a Covid vaccine booster shot just as we do for the flue. Ade and I have had ours and we have had no side effects. It's painless and harmless and my feeling is, even if it not 100% effective, 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!

The issue we have in our state of South Australia is the reluctance of people to have the vaccine shot....there seems to be no point! There has not been a case in the community since November last year and the reaction of people is......."Why should I inject something into my body I don't need"  We have vaccination centres set up to handle more than 1,000 vaccinations a day, and they are getting less than 150 turn up for the jab!

I hope your upcoming hosting goes well Rod, all the best!

Cheers.........Rob