Qld: Trans-Tasman travel cost cuts look set to take off

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2009
Qld: Trans-Tasman travel cost cuts look set to take off

By Angela Harper

BRISBANE, Aug 4 AAP - The cost of flying between New Zealand and Australia looks set
to drop as trans-Tasman red tape could be cut.

Australian and New Zealand customs last year reached an initial agreement to streamline
travel between the two nations while boosting border security.

The plan to create a common border will allow trans-Tasman travellers to avoid customs
and immigration, dropping flight prices by up to 30 per cent and allowing an explosion
in potential new flight routes.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who spoke to AAP before addressing a business
forum in Brisbane on Tuesday, said he, together with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, would
formally announce the changes when they meet in a few weeks to discuss the bilateral Closer
Economic Relations (CER) agreement.

"It is a positive announcement which will allow New Zealanders and Australians to cross
each others' borders more easily," Mr Key told AAP.

"It's an attempt to streamline the process and to ensure that it's a more seamless
and painless process for Australians and New Zealanders as they travel across the border."

Any new rules would not affect quarantine or biosecurity "level of exposure" between
the two countries, he said.

About one million Australians visit New Zealand each year.

AAP ahe/pjo/jfm

KEYWORD: CUSTOMS (PIX AVAILABLE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.