7. Question No. 7—COVID-19 ResponseCHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 7—COVID-19 Response7. CHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Is New Zealand still negotiating a joint decision-making framework with Australia regarding the proposed trans-Tasman safe travel zone; if so what remaining issues if any are being discussed in the negotiations?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): In answer to the first part of the question no. As I told the member last week we have moved from discussing a joint decision-making framework with Australia to discussing more of a unilateral approach to decision making and those discussions continue. Issues that we're working through include understanding the circumstances that could lead to a suspension of green zone travel on either side of the Tasman; what we would do with those whose travel is disrupted by the suspension of a green zone; testing requirements that may be put in place on either side; Australia's current exit visa restriction that prevents Australians travelling to New Zealand without a visa; the state-by-state differences in decision making in Australia; decision making around expansion to other countries outside of the safe travel zone and who would make those and whether New Zealand would have any input into that process; and contact tracing system interoperability in the event that we needed to do contact tracing for people who had been in one country and were then identified as being more at risk after they had travelled to another country.Chris Bishop: Thank you for that answer. Has Cabinet ruled out unilaterally declaring that people from Australia can come to New Zealand without undertaking isolation and quarantine; and if not why not?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No we have not ruled that out and the reason we haven't ruled it out is because that's actually where we're most likely to end up.Chris Bishop: Oh very good. Good!Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well the member clearly didn't listen to my answers last week—I actually told him that last week. We have moved from the notion of a joint decision-making framework to having a unilateral decision-making framework—SPEAKER: Mr Brown—zip it.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: —where each country reserves its ability to make its own decisions about the suspension and opening up of the green travel zone.Chris Bishop: When was the issue of stranded travellers being potentially stuck in Australia first identified by the officials?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: That's been one of the items that's been ongoing through the discussions right the way through—including when we were discussing a joint decision-making framework. One of the goals for having a joint decision-making framework was so that we could avoid people being stranded. We have already seen examples of people's travel being disrupted and people being stranded as a result of Australia's suspension of the green zone. We've had flights on the tarmac at Auckland about to take off that have had to turn back when Australia at very short notice has suspended green zone travel. I do want to note that at the moment only Victoria and New South Wales are allowing people to arrive in those countries without mandatory quarantine or mandatory isolation but they are still requiring those travelling from Auckland to self-isolate for 72 hours and return a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival. Chris Bishop: When was the last time COVID-19 was detected in managed isolation and quarantine in an arrival from Australia who had come direct from Australia and had not transited via Australia from another country?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: There's been one case this year; I think overall about two dozen cases in total since we've had the border restrictions in place—I don't have the exact dates of those off the top of my head. It is a relatively small number but that's in the context of a relatively small number of people coming into the country in total. It's worth remembering that at the moment we deal with probably several hundred arrivals to New Zealand per day in total. We would be talking about a return to trans-Tasman travel pre - COVID-19 levels of between 8000 and 12000 people travelling across the Tasman every single day.Chris Bishop: Why does the Government say that Australians being required to have an exit visa to leave Australia is an impediment to the trans-Tasman safe travel zone when the Prime Minister of Australia has made it very clear he's happy for Australians to holiday in New Zealand?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: If so I look forward to his removal of the requirement of Australians travelling to New Zealand to have an exit visa in order to do so.