The Cook Islands has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated New Zealanders, but with less fanfare and more trepidation than last year’s kick-off.

The two-way quarantine-free travel bubble lasted just three months in 2021 before authorities pulled the pin due to Auckland’s delta outbreak of covid-19.

Since then, the island nation has vaccinated close to 100 percent of its eligible population, paving the way for today’s reconnection.

Resort operator Tata Crocombe told RNZ News today’s excitement was mixed with fear and apprehension given previous setbacks.

“We’ve been open and closed before. Omicron is running away in Australia. There’s so much uncertainty.”

Crocombe, owner of the Rarotongan Beach Resort, said initial demand had been modest, below what he had hoped and expected.

“There’s no stampede [of tourists] this time. This has been very muted, very measured, very slow.”

Summer months typically quiet
He said the summer months were typically quiet for the Cook Islands, but believed demand was also down due to traveller fatigue with tourists delaying plans due to the constant uncertainty.

“If you listen to our colleagues in Queenstown, they’re not even getting the Aucklanders to move to Queenstown in the numbers they would’ve expected, so the market is definitely spooked.”

Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council president Liana Scott said that concern was widespread in the industry.

“There’s a lot of nervousness … a little bit of fear,” Scott said. “There’s worry that we’re opening to very low occupancy.”

Scott, who manages the Muri Beach Club Hotel, said most properties were at 30-40 percent capacity over the next few months, but would pick up from April onwards.

“Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise,” she said.

“We haven’t had covid here … perhaps a slower start does allow us to adapt to some of the new procedures and practices that have come on board.”

Turn around for winter
Cook Islands Tourism Australasia general manager Graeme West said bookings were “reasonably quiet” for the next few months, but that would turn around as New Zealand moved into winter.

“Given we’re starting mid-January, the demand has been good, but not as crazy as last time. From April on, we’re seeing very good bookings.”

House of Travel chief operating officer Brent Thomas said it would take a long time for international travel to return to pre-covid-19 levels, but the Cook Islands was well placed to bounce back.

“The Cook Islands itself is actually a relatively small destination in terms of its capacity so it’s not some place that takes a lot to fill it up.”

Air New Zealand’s chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan said the airline had “strong demand” for bookings this month, with “some seat availability in late January and February”.

The airline was offering a daily service between Auckland and Rarotonga but would adjust the schedule “where possible” as it monitored demand.

Only double-vaccinated travellers, from the age of 12 up, will be allowed into the Pacific nation, with a negative covid-19 test required no more than 48 hours before departure.

Once in Rarotonga, passengers will need to take a rapid antigen test before travelling on to Aitutaki.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Cook Islands has suspended the travel bubble with New Zealand after NZ officials reported new covid-19 community cases in Auckland.

Four new community cases have been reported by health authorities — including an Auckland nurse — taking the total to five.

The new cases are all linked to yesterday’s first case in Auckland, which has been confirmed as delta variant.

“While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” said Prime Minister Mark Brown.

This alert level change will mean that international inwards passenger arrivals for 72 hours through to Thursday have been suspended.

The pause on international arrivals will allow Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health to test arriving passengers from August 11.

This also means domestic travel to the Pa Enua from Rarotonga is suspended until Thursday.

Passengers can return to NZ
Passengers can return to New Zealand from Rarotonga. Passengers from Pa Enua can return back to Rarotonga.

The alert level change and travel bubble suspension was announced after a 58-year-old Devonport man tested positive yesterday in Auckland, New Zealand, after visiting a GP. He was infectious from August 12.

The man, who was not vaccinated, and his wife travelled to Coromandel over the weekend. His wife was fully vaccinated.

He is considered to have become infectious on August 12. There were 23 locations of interest, 10 in Auckland and 13 in Coromandel.

Auckland and Coromandel went into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of New Zealand for three days – from 11.59pm (NZ time) last night.

While announcing the nationwide alert level change last night, Prime Minister Brown said the Cabinet made the decision based on the information available “at this time, all necessary precautions have been considered”.

“While the epidemiological variance and transmission link for the community case in New Zealand is still being investigated, we must act swiftly here to minimise exposure risk for the Cook Islands so we remain safe,” Brown said.

Cooks Cabinet to meet
“This is a good time to remind ourselves of the need to practice good hygiene measures, and to actively tag in with Cooksafe and Cooksafe+.”

The Cook Islands Cabinet will meet again today to consider new updated information received and next steps.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last night the positive case could not be confirmed as delta until genome sequencing was confirmed today, but every recent MIQ case had been delta.

Today Ardern confirmed that all five cases were the delta variant.

“We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours … the (family) bubble is back,” she said.

Ardern said the delta variant was potentially twice as infectious and more liable to cause severe illness.

“We are one of the last countries in the world to have the delta variant in our community. This has given us the chance to learn from others.”

She said delta was a “game-changer” and there needed to be a rapid response to stop the spread.

“We only get one chance.”

Ardern said physical distancing was even more important given how easily delta can be transmitted – including through the air. There would be a 48-hour window for people to relocate in New Zealand.

Cook Islands News stories are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Cook Island businesses holding out for much needed tourists have now got a reprieve with a travel bubble with New Zealand less than two weeks away.

It will start on May 17, with Air New Zealand offering flights from May 18.

During yesterday’s announcement, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said there had been enormous sacrifices made to keep covid-19 out and communities safe.

“Our economy has been devastated, today we start our journey of recovery. Today, we get back into business and today, we start to rebuild,” he said.

Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council president Liana Scott said the bubble announcement was a relief as the wait had been dire for many businesses and financial support from the government due to run out next month.

“Some of them have mentioned to me, if it takes longer than May, they don’t think they can hang in any longer,” she said.

“We have been lucky enough to have the government support through a wage subsidy and, without that, business would not have been able to continue.”

Businesses begin preparations
Scott said businesses had already begun to prepare for overseas guests.

“Some properties have been in hibernation, so they have been closed completely and I’ve already seen on Facebook they’ve been having staff doing some rotational shifts, getting into the rooms, servicing aircons and those sorts of things,” she said.

She said some hotels have even been making their own jam while they waited for shipments of individual breakfast spreads to come in for guests

But she said some business had lost workers to New Zealand as the wage subsidy was only enough to survive on let alone pay the mortgage and other bills.

When the one way bubble was announced in January, 304 Cook Island residents left either for a short term stay or permanently.

“A lot of that young working population has moved to New Zealand to do some seasonal and permanent roles and I think filling those roles will be quite difficult,” she said.

Three flights a week
Once the bubble is up and running Air New Zealand will fly to the Cook Islands two or three times a week.

The airline expects to step that up to daily from July in time for the school holidays.

However, National Party leader Judith Collins said the government had not been moving fast enough to reconnect with other Pacific countries.

“The fact is these countries have almost no other income other than remittances, it is simply deplorable that the government has not moved faster on this.

“It shouldn’t be hard when there’s no cases in these other countries,” she said.

In the past, Samoa’s Prime Minster has been reluctant to open up the borders following the measles outbreak and Tonga’s Prime Minister has said a vaccination programme needs to be done first.

Nuie’s Premier Dalton Tagelagi is waiting to see how successful the Cook Islands bubble is before lobbying for one of its own.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it makes the most sense for realm countries to be the next countries in line for a bubble, but the decision is “in the hands of those countries.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Perth in Australia was plunged into a three-day lockdown after community transmission was linked to a returnee from India.

Fiji finds itself in similar situation due to a returnee, also from India.

Australian officials say overseas travel is allowed only for “the most profound humanitarian or compassionate reasons, under strictest of circumstances”.

What about Fiji? Under what circumstances is overseas travel allowed? Under what circumstances was the India returnee allowed to travel in the first place – do citizens have a right to know?

Australia has recognised the risks and effectively banned international travel, even though thousands of Australians will be unable to return home for now.

What is the Fiji response to international travel in light of the latest infections from abroad with 12 new cases yesterday? Are we tightening things up or not? The citizens need to know what the government is doing.

Reports indicate Australia adopted varying responses with regards to high-risk countries, including North America and Europe.

Tightening up
Given the crisis in India, Australia has taken steps to further tighten departures after it was found people were travelling for weddings, funerals and sports.

Critics have condemned the Australian government for what they see as its laxity, and for risking lives and dealing a potential blow to the economy.

What about Fiji? On what grounds are people travelling? Were people allowed to travel for weddings, religious reasons and for funerals? We need answers.

How big a risk is it to us as a nation to allow return travel from hot spots like India and the US?

In light of the new cases, have the international travel guidelines been changed or are they still the same?

Dr Shailendra Singh is senior lecturer and coordinator of the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific. This comment is from Dr Singh’s social media posts and is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

After months of discussions, the trans-Tasman bubble is officially open.

The prime ministers of New Zealand and Australia are describing it as a world-leading arrangement that promotes travel between the two countries, without letting covid-19 into the community.

Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison say the Pacific Islands are next on the list.

A May bubble is still intended with the Cook Islands but no firm date has been set as yet, Ardern said.

Opening up to the Pacific does not need to be done in lock-step with Australia, Ardern told RNZ Morning Report, because New Zealand has always aimed to have “a country-by-country framework”.

“It’s up to the discretion of each nation.”

Home quarantine?
Morrison has suggested home quarantine for vaccinated travellers could be possible by the end of the year.

The NZ government was sceptical about home quarantine, Ardern said.

Ardern said this country would want to look closely at the research and data around that and the risk of transmission to others.

“Our baseline is to get as many New Zealanders as we can vaccinated to a high degree before we look at opening up to countries that we consider to be higher risk than what we’re doing with Australia,” she said.

“Then there are a range of areas where we’re keeping an open mind but we really want the data to back up what we do.

“At the moment because those who are being vaccinated are not being regularly tested getting that research and data is a little difficult.”

While the chances of passing on Covid-19 were much lower for vaccinated people, more time was needed to establish solid data.

Border in stages
The border would open in stages, Ardern said, and there may be a scenario such as a variant responding less effectively to the vaccine being used here, so there may have to be “different protocols” for people from some parts of the world.

Ardern agreed it was a “very significant day” for New Zealanders.

She said the two countries would not be in this position if both countries had not adopted a strict covid-19 management regime with everyone playing their part.

There will be ups and downs but to have a quarantine-free arrangement with another country: “I don’t know anywhere else in the world that’s doing that so it is a very big day and exciting for family and friends,” Ardern said.

Asked if any decision had been made on allowing flights to resume from India, she said nothing had been decided yet.

The government was mindful of worsening numbers there but also had to be aware of New Zealanders’ rights to come home and not be left stateless.

The government was considering options for tightening up pre-departure testing in India such as reducing the time between the test and flight departure, plus accrediting some laboratories.

Removing inequity
Pre-departure quarantine within India would be very difficult to run, she said, in a country where covid-19 was so rampant.

The announcement by Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi later today was aimed at removing some inequity in the system relating to some migrants whose families had not been able to join them in New Zealand.

“This is us trying to work through an inequity in our system at the moment.”

She said there were spaces within managed isolation and quarantine at present.

While there are estimates that 5000 people are currently separated from their families, the numbers are imprecise in part because some have visas that are expiring, so they no longer qualify to have their families join them.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand expects to open a two-way travel bubble with the Cook Islands in May and is planning a vaccination campaign there.

The leaders of both nations met in Auckland today, with New Zealand confirming $20 million in additional support for the country this financial year.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown is the first international leader to be officially welcomed into New Zealand since the pandemic began.

Speaking to media after the meeting, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the two discussed the road map for quarantine-free travel.

She said the vaccination campaign – also planned to begin in May – will pave the way.

“There has been significant work with preparedness and we are currently working in earnest towards a May commencement. The Director-General of Health has also advised that beginning vaccination will add to the safe opening of quarantine-free travel.”

Brown has said the Cook Islands’ updated contact tracing app, which is compatible with the New Zealand Covid Tracer app, is also an essential step on the path to two-way quarantine-free travel.

$20m ‘sweetener’
In the meantime, New Zealand is offering the $20 million sweetener from a “recently reprioritised” Development Assistant budget.

A one-way travel bubble between Rarotonga and New Zealand has been in place since the end of January allowing quarantine-free travel from the Cook Islands to New Zealand.

At least 300 Cook Islanders have arrived in New Zealand to look for work since the one-way travel arrangement came into effect and residents are also travelling to New Zealand for medical treatments they can’t access at home.

There is pressure for officials to move faster on a two-way travel bubble, or risk losing a significant chunk of the Cook Islands workforce to New Zealand.

Brown told Ardern about the “significant issues” facing his covid-free, but also tourist-free, country.

“For a country that is totally reliant on tourism – up to 70 percent on GDP – this has had a significant impact on our economy, to the state it’s declined 20 percent in the time New Zealand’s economy has declined by 2.9 percent of its GDP,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Although international travel restrictions for Australia have been extended to at least June, there may still be potential for a trans-Tasman bubble with New Zealand (and maybe some other countries), according to reports.

Air New Zealand will begin trialling digital vaccine passports (or “immunity passports”) on routes to Australia in April.

Ideally, these digital certificates will allow authorities to quickly check whether prospective travellers have been vaccinated.

The specific passport system New Zealand is set to adopt — along with Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways — is the International Air Transport Association (IATA)‘s digital Travel Pass app.

But to be effective, this system would need to meet several key criteria. The vaccine passports would need to be linked securely to travellers, comply with different countries’ regulations and be almost impossible to illegally copy or modify.

How would it work?
It is expected at least the vast majority of people travelling on an airline using the IATA software will have to use the pass. The system has four steps:

1. a vaccine-recording component for when a person is first vaccinated
2. the transfer of this person’s vaccine-related and personal data to the IATA software
3. verification of the data by an authorised party
4. digital cross-checking, to ensure a government’s travel requirements are applied to all travellers entering or leaving that country. This would also make sure each traveller has the necessary prerequisites needed to enter their destination country.

The software would work by establishing an international network of trusted vaccine providers. The IATA is already compiling this list. These providers, including hospitals and clinics, would receive access to the software’s vaccine-recording component.

With this they woud log information about a patient’s vaccination and identity details (such as passport number). So you would almost certainly need to present a valid passport when getting vaccinated.

For those already vaccinated by the time the system is rolled out, an option would be needed to transfer existing records to the app. Again, this would require confirmation the person requesting the data transfer is the same person who was vaccinated.

Before-departure checks
Once your vaccine and identification details are logged, this would generate a data file to be sent securely to the app’s software. This file would be encrypted and stored on the device itself, only to be retrieved by an authorised person with your consent.

Border and airline staff could check whether the lab identification is valid by comparing it to the IATA’s list of trusted vaccine providers. This check would be done using a wireless near-field communication system, similar to that used for contactless payments.

At this point, the border control unit would also confirm if the identification you presented when getting your vaccine is still valid. They could also check your passport against the national passport database, which is standard procedure.

Such a system could be set up to flag important updates. If a vaccine batch failed quality control, or a certain provider was removed from the approved providers list, this would need to be reflected quickly.

Security advantages of vaccine passports
A notable advantage of vaccine passports is they’re hard to forge compared to paper records. The IATA software would unbreakably link your identification details with your vaccination status.

Even if someone stole your phone or copied its data, this data would match only your passport. If they stole your passport, too, they’d likely still get caught during normal passport checks.

On Apple (iOS) smartphones the in-built “secure enclave” feature would prevent your Travel Pass app information from being moved remotely to another device without the right permissions. Android and other operating systems have similar tools used for smart wallets.

Using vaccine passports also minimises data sharing. In each case of information transaction, such as when crossing border control, the only data shared are your identification details and vaccine information.

An achievable set-up
Most countries are requiring that all covid vaccines administered be recorded on a national register. In Australia, this is the Australian Immunisation Register.

The IATA will publish the Travel Pass app’s software interface, which is what enables other programs to transfer data to and from the software.

With the interface available, countries should be able to simply integrate the software into their own vaccine management systems. Governments could even apply their own rules to the software.

For instance, one may decide to reject vaccine records from a particular provider, or demand a longer waiting period once a vaccine is received.

This could obviously cause problems for travellers who may be planning to go to a destination with different protocols to the origin country. That’s why this would have to be sorted prior to travel, just as visas often are.

Minor issues and loopholes
For now, a digital vaccine passport would only be available for people with a smartphone or tablet. Also, each traveller in a group would need their own vaccine passport.

This could be tricky for families with young children or other dependants who don’t (or can’t) use smart devices. One fix would be for parents or carers to store dependants’ information on their own device.

The only credible route for vaccine passport forgery would be if a vaccination management system, such as one used by a GP or hospital, somehow recorded patient data incorrectly.

This could be done by someone deliberately impersonating someone else. Then again, the impostor would have to convince both the health worker administering their vaccine and staff at the airport. This would be difficult if a passport is used.

Similarly, a hacker could potentially attack the Australian Immunisation Register (or other vaccine registers) to generate false data to feed into the IATA system. But these registries tend to be well-protected.

And if one were compromised, it would be simple to invalidate vaccine certificates tracing back to it for as long as the issue was not resolved.

Dr Dave Parry, professor of computer science, Auckland University of Technology. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

It is looking increasingly likely that the much discussed trans-Tasman bubble is finally on the way.

Cabinet has agreed in principle to quarantine-free travel in the first quarter of 2021.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said officials were working on contingency plans in the event of an outbreak.

The decision is dependent on Australia’s agreement and no major change in circumstances in either country.

Australian federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said his government was keen on the idea.

“We’re ready to implement from our side as soon as New Zealand’s ready. It’s the first step on a return to international normality.”

University of Melbourne epidemiologist specialising in public health professor Tony Blakely told Morning Report that Australia was working on a potential “hot-spot” definition for the different states, but could not reach a conclusion and it had fallen by the wayside now.

National-level approach
New Zealand would be looking for a national-level approach, he said.

If that did not happen, then New Zealand would have to look at which states and territories to be in a bubble with “if there’s another resurgence somewhere”.

It would impact on advance bookings, he said, but people might start to book about two weeks prior to travel.

“Welcome to covid normal, that’s the reality anywhere you live in the world, particularly for a bigger country like Australia where there’s just more people, there’s more governments and where there will be occasional incursions and outbreaks – that will happen, it’s the reality.”

He said it was about moving with the times and stated the benefits of a bubble for New Zealand.

“The three benefits you get out of this are reunification of family and friends, two is increasing your tourism, and three is business opportunities.”

He said the major risk for both countries was for covid coming from the Northern Hemisphere – from countries like UK, Spain, and US.

“There is a risk that the virus will pop into New Zealand from somebody coming from Australia but it is much less than … somebody coming from the UK for example.”

NZ epidemiologist happy with rules
University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told First Up most states in Australia were free of community transmission for longer periods than New Zealand.

He said Australia was taking a similar “elimination” approach and the Pacific Islands had gone a step further and “excluded” the virus completely since the start of the year.

“Now is the time to be looking at quarantine-free travel with Australia and some Pacific Islands.”

Baker said pushing out the travel bubble to 2021 was sensible because there was a higher risk of importation as the pandemic was “getting more intense in the Northern Hemisphere” and would continue for a few more months till the vaccines were available.

And it would be harder to manage an outbreak over the summer here, he said.

If there was an outbreak on either side of the border when the bubble was in operation, Baker said it would need to be instantly closed, only allowing those coming through MIQ.

“The Western world has made a horrible mess of managing this pandemic right from the beginning, and so now they’re really stuck with this difficult situation where they have to go in and out of lockdown, now the only thing for them would be the roll-out of very effective vaccines.”

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Seventeen passengers from New Zealand who travelled to Sydney under the trans-Tasman bubble arrangements have been caught entering Melbourne, reports the ABC.

The ABC understands the passengers flew to Sydney and got a connecting to flight to Melbourne.

Melbourne is currently not accepting international travellers.

Initially it was reported that 14 passengers were detained in Melbourne.

But overnight Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) confirmed there were 17 passengers, and that the department “does not have legal authority to detain the travellers on arrival”.

“Victoria has not agreed to a travel bubble arrangement with New Zealand and did not expect to receive international travellers as a result of NSW making that arrangement,” DHHS said in a statement.

“The Victorian government has made it clear to the Commonwealth that we expect NZ passengers who have not undertaken quarantine will not be permitted to board flights in Sydney bound for Melbourne.”

‘Matter for states’
In a statement, Australian Border Force said “domestic border restrictions are a matter for states and territories”.

But the Australian Department of Home Affairs says on its website that “quarantine-free travel from New Zealand will initially be to New South Wales and the Northern Territory only. Other states and territories may be added at a later date.”

A spokesperson from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of media reports, but we have not been approached in relation to this matter.”

Three flights from New Zealand touched down at Sydney Airport earlier on Friday carrying international passengers who, for the first time in seven months, will not need to quarantine upon arrival.

At Sydney Airport there were tears and hugs as loved ones reunited, with many passengers flying one-way.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard described it as a “great day”, but pointed out New Zealanders arriving on Friday would need to prove they are symptom-free and satisfy other health requirements.

There will be a total of 16 flights between the two countries each week, with Jetstar and Qantas joining Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways in advertising the trans-Tasman flights.

No fares beyond Sydney
In a media statement yesterday, Air New Zealand said fares beyond Sydney were not able to be booked via the airline due to Australian state restrictions.

“Passengers planning to travel interstate beyond New South Wales will need to ensure they have checked state and territory travel restrictions and have the appropriate exemptions/approvals to travel as these continue to change,” the statement said.

Announcing the travel bubble arrangements earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said to start with, visitors to Australia could only go to New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

McCormack said that was because both jurisdictions impose travel restrictions on places in line with the Commonwealth’s definition of a hotspot – a place with a three-day rolling average of three locally acquired cases per day.

Visitors from New Zealand are only allowed to visit if they haven’t been to a designated hotspot in the last 14 days.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The man with his hands on the tiller of the Fijian economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, has always been a great admirer of Gough Whitlam’s “crash through or crash” approach to leadership and never more so than with the F$3.67 billion budget he announced on Friday night.

Allowing for a sobering 21.7 percent contraction of the economy, the budget provides for a $2 billion deficit and takes government debt to $8.2 billion, a debt-to-GDP ratio of 83.4 percent compared to the 53 percent the government inherited when it took office in 2006.

With the collapse of the celebrated “Bainimarama Boom” that the Attorney-General trumpeted just a year ago, he is using foreign loans for a massive stimulus effort to try to dig Fiji out of the covid crisis, including tax cuts and the abolition or reduction of a raft of government charges.

READ MORE: Fiji announces $3.67bn budget

Whether the private sector and the rest of the community responds remains to be seen.

But it amounts to a massive gamble because any overall recovery is specifically predicated on the resuscitation of Fiji’s biggest revenue earner – tourism – through a Pacific Bula Bubble with Australia and New Zealand.

We know the Attorney-General is betting everything on the Bubble happening this year because the Reserve Bank is predicting a post-covid revival of 14.1 percent economic growth next year specifically on the assumption that visitors will return in numbers before then.

The unspoken aspect of the debate around the budget is the fate of the national carrier, Fiji Airways, that has been given half a billion dollars worth of government loan guarantees to keep it afloat and is also banking on being back in the air by the end of the year.

Saving the Fijian economy
Will there be sufficient bums on aircraft seats and bodies in hotel beds by Christmas to save the Fijian economy and its national airline?

The country lives in hope but with the covid pandemic raging in the two most populous Australian states and the NZ government reluctant to institute its own bubble, the average Fijian wouldn’t want to bet their bure on it.

An estimated 115,000 people have already lost their jobs in the private sector but foreign loans are so far keeping the country’s 27,000 civil servants at work, with pay cuts at the top of government but no job losses in the public sector.

Civil servants are now the backbone of the general economy, with everyone else relying on them to “spend, spend, spend”, though with money that Fiji doesn’t have and loans that will have to be repaid.

Crash through or crash it is.

Graham Davis spent six years as the Fijian government’s principal communications adviser from 2012 to 2018. He also worked on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign, including its presidency of COP23.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Cook Islands government’s inaccurate and startling announcement yesterday about a tourism bubble opening with New Zealand as soon as next week has done more harm than good.

Clearly a failed attempt at trying to force Jacinda Ardern’s hand into giving a date now and using mouthpiece media to do it, it’s a rookie mistake, an embarrassment, and has done nothing for healthy diplomatic relations.

Jacinda Ardern must have choked on her cornflakes when she heard the Cook Islands Deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown’s ambitious announcement.

READ MORE: Mixed views still over Pacific travel ‘bubbles’

So, here are the facts – yes, discussions are happening between the two governments, yes, there is an agreement for a tourism bubble, but no date has been set as to when that will be as specific processes need to happen first.

Everyone knows the covid-free Cook Islands is crying out for tourists and that Kiwis are crying out for a safe island destination to holiday in.

It’s a match made in heaven. But it’s not unreasonable for the New Zealand government to ensure any border reopening with island neighbours gives as much consideration to safety as to speed.

It needs to be done right the first time and it needs to be done properly.

Border breaches
While New Zealand looks good with no community spread of covid, this could change down the track. There could be border breaches, there could be any manner of things. It only takes one person.

If procedures are put in place to start with, like tracking and tracing, then these can swing into action to protect both local populations and visitors.

Barbara Dreaver talks tourism bubbles on TV One.

And tourism can continue. The last thing that needs to happen is the speedy opening of a tourism bubble and then having to close it again because it wasn’t done right the first time.

It’s easy to understand the Cook Islands’ desperation. Come September, the island government’s wage subsidy for those impacted by covid-19 runs out and tourist operators will be even worse off than they already are.

Many families who rely on the tourism dollar have taken loans to build the holiday houses they rent to tourists – and interest rates in the Cook Islands are nine or 10 percent.

The country is doing it tough, as is Samoa, as is Fiji.

Tahiti’s desperation
Tomorrow French Polynesia will open up its border to the world, including the covid-ridden US.

And no quarantine period for visitors shows the measure of that desperation.

That country’s leadership is taking a calculated risk with the lives of its people to protect jobs and the economy. But what a risk.

The Cook Islands tourism industry has very strong and noisy advocates – they always have been and that’s not a bad thing.

The continuous stream of calls to “open the border now” has been relentless. The campaign to get anyone on board who will listen has been widespread – personalities, talk show hosts, reporters, opposition MPs, anyone who can be used, is being used.

Theories abound about New Zealand not wanting Kiwis to take their tourist dollars elsewhere, that it’s political etc etc.

Maybe there’s some truth to that but it doesn’t change anything and you can guarantee the same people in New Zealand who are bleating on about opening the bubble now will be the first to indignantly proclaim that New Zealand didn’t look after its island neighbours should something go wrong.

Jacinda Ardern has been consistent in her messaging about protecting Pacific countries and that’s hardly surprising after being burnt by Samoa’s measles epidemic which originated from New Zealand.

Speed is important, it absolutely is, but so is safety for our island neighbours.

The Pacific Media Centre has permission to republish Barbara Dreaver’s TV One articles.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz