Sports teams coming to New Zealand will spend up to $7000 per person on managed isolation costs, Finance Minister Grant Robertson has revealed.
The Australian rugby team lands in New Zealand tonight for the team's mandatory 14 day quarantine in Christchurch before taking part in two Bledisloe Cup test matches against the All Blacks next month.
Also coming to New Zealand are the Pakistan and West Indies men's cricket team for the Black Caps' home summer series scheduled from November to January.
England's netball team is also coming to New Zealand next month for a three test series against the Silver Ferns in Hamilton.
Robertson told Checkpoint that the sport bodies will cover the costs of their managed isolation stays.
"It's a figure of around $7000 per person, that is the full cost... we've worked that figure out with the teams [and] we believe that to be a reasonable figure that will cover the costs of their stay."
Robertson said if one of the overseas players or members of the team staff tested positive, that would likely mean the end of their time.
"Because the clock would start again for the teams and that would probably end up meaning that the games wouldn't be able to be played.
"That's actually the risk that the sports themselves are carrying, in order to be able to train as a group they are taking the risk that if one of them gets sick that effectively means the whole team has to stand down, if there were other arrangements, we had smaller bubbles, then perhaps you would be able to managed that a bit differently, but that's where the sports have landed."
Robertson said he is not yet considering relaxing the quarantine rules for the All Blacks return to New Zealand following the Rugby Championship, rather he is leaving it up to New Zealand Rugby, SANZAAR and Rugby Australia to sort out the tournament's scheduling issues.
The final match of the Rugby Championship is set to be played between the All Blacks and Australia in Sydney on 12 December, meaning the team would have to spend Christmas in managed isolation under the Government's quarantine rules.
RNZ
