Mark McGowan concerned with New Zealand travellers entering the State, despite WA not being included in “Trans-Tasman Bubble”
The agreement between Australia and New Zealand to establish a one-way travel bubble allowing New Zealanders to fly to the NT and NSW has gone awry, with States like WA and Victoria confirming the exempt travellers are showing up at their airports.
Mark McGowan raised concerns with “border hopping” yesterday, as 23 New Zealanders flew into the State from NSW.
“This is something that has emerged and was not something that we expected,” Mr McGowan said.
“We would like better assistance from the Commonwealth, in particular about making sure that those people who come on aircraft into WA, that we get a proper manifest and proper advice with those people so we can deal with these situations.”
About 55 New Zealanders have also entered the locked-down city of Melbourne.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he hoped there would be a “clearer sense” of how many more travellers would be entering Victoria, after “a bunch of people turned up” at the Melbourne airport on Friday “unbeknownst to us”.
But Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said Premiers knew “border hopping” was a possibility.
“This has been discussed at National Cabinet,” he said on ABC.
“To say they (States) had no idea is a step too far.
Mr McCormack hit out against Mark McGowan’s call for “proper advice” and more help in managing the entry of New Zealanders into the State, and said that information was “there now”.
He said it was “a bit rich” that WA kept asking for the Federal Government to do more in relation to exempt travellers or returning Australians.
“We’ve put on the table $340 billion leading up to the Budget – Western Australia announced a budget surplus,” he said.
“Now if you ask most Australians, yes Government’s should be producing Budget surpluses but in times of crisis it’s a bit rich to then put all the onus on the Federal Government for the assistance, all the onus on the Federal Government to do absolutely all the heavy lifting when it comes to repatriating Australians.”
Further Perth news and Perth coronavirus updates on SoPerth.com.au.
Feature image: AAP Photos / Richard Wainwright
