Finance Minister Grant Robertson refuses to believe a trans-Tasman bubble will be burst by a spike of Covid 19 cases in Victoria.

But he says the influx of new cases in the Australian state shows the need to avoid rushing the opening our borders to non-New Zealanders.

Robertson told Heather du Plessis-Allan the Government is working on an ongoing border strategy because of the fast pace of the virus.

“We’ve seen what has happened in Victoria the past few weeks, where you see a community outbreak occur. This is a live virus which is growing internationally.”

Robertson says it makes sense to open our borders first to our closest neighbours.

On a Pacific travel bubble, the Minister says he knows nothing about talks Cook Islands judiciary and islanders needing surgery will enter New Zealand without being quarantined.

Cooks Islands Deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown revealed today that New Zealand was considering a waiver possibly in two weeks for these cases.

Robertson says there may be talks about what might be happening in the future - but these questions needed to be posed to the foreign affairs ministry.

"I'm not aware of that at all, so the arrangements that we've got everybody knows about in terms of coming in and going into the mandatory isolation process." 

He says the quarantine two-week standown is in place for everybody.

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