New Zealand's leader of the opposition Judith Collins says fed-up Kiwis are moving to Australia because of the government's handling of COVID-19.
She alleges NZ is risking its international reputation by pushing out border reopenings to 2022, when it should be allowing freedom of movement for fully vaccinated COVID-negative travellers.
"There needs to be an opening up of the trans-Tasman bubble," Ms Collins said in Wellington on Tuesday.
"We need to stop this fortress mentality that we have and we need to reconnect with the world in a safe way."
NZ's management of a Delta outbreak, which arrived from NSW in August, continues to dominate the nation's politics.
The government ring-fenced Auckland to deal with its caseload, prioritising the dismantling of that internal border rather than the reopening of international borders, citing the "cumulative risk" of too many changes at once.
It is holding firm to a policy set in August of continued quarantine for all arrivals until the first quarter of next year, and will give a more detailed timeline within days.
"When you're trying to put out a bushfire, you don't go around striking matches," COVID-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said.
"We are going to get to the point where there'll be freer movement at the border and we will need to deal with that at that point."
Ms Collins, leader of the centre-right National party, has called on the government to move on from the elimination strategy.
"Last year New Zealand had a very good reputation around trying to eliminate COVID-19. Now there is no chance of elimination," she said.
"COVID has left Auckland. It is around New Zealand [and] I am absolutely certain that a lot of us will get COVID in some form, as is happening overseas.
"Where is the risk? The risk at the moment is on this country being left behind."
National has called for an immediate end to quarantine for all arrivals - not just Kiwis - should they be fully vaccinated and prove their negative status.
Ms Collins also believes Australia is stealing a march on NZ - luring international students and even some Kiwis - while her country stays locked up.
"People are moving to Australia because they're seeing a more sensible approach," she said.
"The Australians [are] opening up to international students ... and we are losing a market that we should be trying to get."
Victoria University of Wellington vice chancellor Grant Guilford spoke with envy at the Australian changes, saying, "It will certainly give the Australian universities a significant head start in their recoveries" from the virus.
Mr Guilford said Australia's moves "leapfrogged" his idea for Kiwi universities to run their own quarantine, and the NZ government was likely to respond.
"I think there's a reasonable chance ... we'll have borders open more quickly than we thought," he told New Zealand talk-radio network Newstalk ZB.
