Pacific

Challenges laid out for a Pacific-NZ-Aus bubble

05:01 am on 29 May 2020

Hopes are growing for a Pacific travel bubble, but there are still quite a few challenges ahead.

Both Australia and New Zealand have done pretty well controlling and eliminating Covid-19, and it hasn't spread to most of the region's countries.

That's come at a huge sacrifice: mass layoffs from industries which make up well over half of most countries' economies.

Mark Brown, the deputy prime minister of the Cook Islands - where 1 in 5 businesses are now considering closing - is keen on a bubble.

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Air New Zealand planes parked up at Auckland Airport during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Supplied / Air New Zealand