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Hopes for NZ Australia travel bubble revived

Hope for a travel bubble between New Zealand and some states of Australia before the end of the year, was raised by New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday (September 28).

"It is possible. Again what we would need to be assured of is that when Australia is saying 'okay we've got a hotspot over here' that the border around that hotspot means that people aren't able to travel into the states where we are engaging with in trans-Tasman travel."

The idea has been in discussion for months, as both nations have slowed the spread of the coronavirus.

But talks were disrupted after a resurgence of COVID-19 in Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city, aswell as another wave of infections in New Zealand's Auckland.

Ardern also said the strategy had shifted from Australia pushing for a national approach to instead suggesting opening up travel state by state, focusing on a hotspot regime where certain parts of the country would still be barred from traveling.

Meanwhile, Australia's Victoria state reported single digits of new coronavirus cases for the first time in three months on Monday.

It has stoked hopes for near-normal conditions by Christmas.