ARDERN: “I want to finish with a sentiment that Professor Skegg shared with me a little while back that’s really stuck with me. He said, just like after 9/11, the border will never be the same again after Covid. The point he was making was that things can change, but that doesn’t mean we can’t adapt to them in a way that eventually feels normal again.
Vaccines, border testing and monitoring of symptoms when you travel will eventually become our baseline. And we will get used to it. Our goal as New Zealand is to get to that place as quickly as we can, with as little health and economic disruption as we can. Today we have shared with you the first steps on the way to that plan. And my hope is next year, things will start to get just that bit easier, that bit more secure. No reira tena koutou tena koutou katoa.”