New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will be phoning in to Australia’s national cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss COVID-19 responses.
On the agenda is both countries’ responses to the pandemic and Australia’s new COVIDSafe app, a version of which New Zealand will be adopting.
It has been reported the national cabinet will also discuss the possibility of a “trans-Tasman bubble” that would allow Australians and New Zealanders to travel between countries as restrictions begin to ease.
Breaking: The New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern will join tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting to discuss Covid responses, and the new Australia app #auspol @AmyRemeikis
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) May 4, 2020
The national cabinet involves all of Australia’s political leaders including the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and all the state and territory premiers and chief ministers.
Morrison made the suggestion Ardern join in to the cabinet meeting last Thursday and the cabinet agreed by Friday when she formally invited.
Can we finally add New Zealand as the seventh state of Australia? https://t.co/Y95ljqmOPe pic.twitter.com/qFG11aOHLG
— Michael Janda (@mikejanda) May 4, 2020
At Ardern’s official COVID-19 update press conference today, Director of General Health Ashley Bloomfield suggested the idea of a trans-Tasman bubble was a possibility.
“We’re trying to go very much in tandem with the range of moves we’ve made, whether it was around the border, around case definitions, around sharing information. I’m confident we could continue that to support a trans-Tasman bubble arrangement if that’s what the governments agree.”
Bloomfield also confirmed that for the first time since March 16, there are no new cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand.