New Zealand is now weighing in on the issue of Australian state border closures.
While some have opened, the major holdouts are Western Australia and Queensland with squabbling continuing between states and the federal government getting increasingly frustrated over the issue.
New Zealand’s deputy prime minister Winston Peters says a ‘roadblock of federalism’ is delaying the start of an international ‘travel bubble’ that both nations are keen to launch to boost the tourism industry.
"Before we went to lockdown, we were talking about getting out of it and having a bubble of success between both countries. But we’ve run into the roadblock of federalism," Peters said.
"Let’s not restrain the movement between our two countries based on the slowest state in Australia."
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it is an issue for Australia to decide and a travel bubble could still go ahead to selected states that have already opened borders.
"We’ve said that’s a matter for Australia, we’re not necessarily here determining that it has to be country-wide," the PM said.
New Zealand has lifted all restrictions on domestic travel, social distancing and gatherings.
The Australian federal government is getting increasingly miffed over the holdout states’ reluctance to set a state border opening timeline, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging them to name a date in July.
