Morning Report

Auckland tourism operators are preparing for a bleak winter with no international tourists arriving in the foreseeable future.

Government figures show international visitors accounted for more than half of the $9 billion spent by tourists in Auckland last year.

There's a prospect of getting some tourists from Australia if we form a trans-Tasman travel bubble.

That will be canvassed later today when the Prime Minister patches in to Australia's national Cabinet meeting via video link.

Ardern says both countries are in the enviable position of being able to consider re-opening their borders to one another.

She cautioned such a step would be a boon for the economy, but cautions it won't occur in the next few weeks.

Tourism reporter Tess Brunton has more.

Jacinda Ardern will join Australia's Cabinet meeting today via video link to discuss the possibility of a trans-Tasman bubble.

That would allow travel between the two countries without having to quarantine, but the Prime Minister said it is still some time off.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison invited her to join the call with state premiers last week.

Dan Conifer is an ABC political reporter based at Parliament House in Canberra.

A brief update of movements in the financial sector.

Farmers in Hawke's Bay say their problems with drought are becoming desperate, especially in the central and southern parts of the district.

Not only is there little grass available in the paddocks, but there are too many animals competing for what IS growing in the last few days of warm weather before winter arrives Normally, farmers would respond by offloading stock to the works.

But social distancing rules mean workers on the processing chain are spread out, reducing throughput by up to 50 percent, and making the backlog of animals worse.

The Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor insists the Government is aware of this and is trying to help.

Is the Government doing enough?

Hawke's Bay Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway speaks to Kim Hill.

The heart of the Gisborne economy is beating again, as the forestry industry gets into full swing under Alert Level 3.

About 300 forestry workers lost their jobs, or had hours reduced, prior to the lockdown, after China - which takes 95 percent of the region's logs - stopped taking them back in February.

The East Coast's biggest employer is now back up and running, and industry leaders are hopeful that things will stay on track.

RNZ's Meriana Johnsen has more.

Frustration is growing among people stuck on surgery wait lists due to their age or weight.

Elective surgeries and specialist appointments are restarting under Alert Level 3, but the Ministry of Health has told DHBs to consider deferring non-urgent treatments for people who are over 70, have a BMI over 40, or have heart, lung or kidney disease.

That's being described as overkill. Katie Todd reports.

The opposition says the Prime Minister needs to come out of today's meeting with her Australian counter-parts with a clear signal of when a trans-Tasman bubble could get off the ground.

Jacinda Ardern will discuss the potential of quarantine-free travel when she dials into Australia's National Cabinet meeting today.

National Tourism spokesperson Todd McClay says opening the borders with Australia would provide some much needed light on the horizon for the sector.

He says Ardern needs to provide a clear timeline on when this could happen, so that airlines and tourism operators can start planning.

He speaks to Susie Ferguson.

New Zealanders managed to ingest five weeks' worth of takeaways in the first week after moving to a Level 3 lockdown.

That's according to a report from ASB, which also says that in the future households might prefer cheaper luxuries like takeaways to more expensive big-ticket items.

So did Level 3 arrive just in time to help save the hospitality industry?

Mike Egan is the president of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and co-owner of Monsoon Poon in Wellington and Auckland, and the Boulcott Street Bistro and Burger Liquor in Wellington.

It's been a week since we moved into Alert Level 3, but retailers and small outlets say the restricted move back into economic activity is doing very little to help their prospects of recovery.

Retail sales took a nosedive during the lockdown - plummeting about 80 percent on the same period last year.

Retail New Zealand says online trading is not delivering the sales that would allow businesses to bounce back from what it calls "the economic carnage of the past few weeks".

Reporter Robin Martin has more.

Reform of the Resource Management Act can't come soon enough.

That's the view of Infrastructure New Zealand, which says the Act is cumbersome, complex, and not fit to help recovery from the Covid-19 lockdown.

The government has announced legislation will go before Parliament in June taking away public and council input in to major works. Instead projects will be vetted by a panel of experts, but only for a period of two years.

Paul Blair is the chief executive of Infrastructure New Zealand.