Australia has finalised a deal for a limited travel bubble between New Zealand and select Australian states, with flights across the Tasman expected within weeks.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has just made the announcement.

Mr McCormack said stage 1 of a travel zone with New Zealand would see quarantine-free travel into NSW and the NT.

“This is the first stage in what we hope to see as a trans-Tasman bubble between the two countries not just that state and that territory,” he said.

The borders will reopen with New Zealand on Friday October 16.

This announcement is only for New Zealanders entering Australia.

New Zealanders would still have to go into quarantine when returning to the country.

Mr McCormack said the arrangement – which lets New Zealanders enter the country without hotel quarantine – would free up space in NSW’s overseas arrivals program, allowing the state to take 325 more returning Australians into hotel quarantine.