COVID-19: Paula Bennett wants guarantee Cook Island bubble will be done right 'from day one'

Paula Bennett supports the COVID-19 travel bubble with the Cook Islands, set to be announced on Monday - but she's urging the Government to think it through and ensure they "get this one right, right from day one".

The outgoing National MP, who is filling in for Peter Williams on Magic Talk this week, says the Government should take precautions to ensure New Zealand isn't exposed to undue risk when our borders reopen to the Pacific Island nation.

It comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed to The AM Show that a Cook Islands travel bubble is set to be discussed at Cabinet on Monday afternoon, with an update expected in a press conference immediately after.

Last week, former National leader Simon Bridges claimed he had insider knowledge that the Government planned to announce the creation of the bubble to the country on Monday.

As it stands, neither New Zealand nor the Cook Islands have any evidence of COVID-19 community transmission, with New Zealand's last local infection from an unknown source coming more than 100 days ago.

Speaking on Monday morning, Bennett said she's "all for" opening up to the Cook Islands, but begged politicians and bureaucrats responsible for its implementation to "please not stuff it up".

"That means when people are coming back into the country, can you separate them from other people that are coming in from countries that do have COVID?" she said.

"I know this seems really obvious, and I shouldn't have to say it, but I thought it was pretty obvious that when you quarantine you keep people in quarantine, and they didn't do that in the beginning."

It appears Bennett is referring to a series of blunders made at managed isolation facilities in June, the most egregious of which saw two COVID-19-positive women allowed to leave an Auckland hotel without being tested for the disease.

Bennett says she wants checks on who will be in the Cook Islands and a separate airport for Kiwis travelling to and from the Pacific nation, so tourists don't have to mix with returnees flying into Auckland from high-risk nations.

"I am all for opening up that border, but can we please be checking who is in the Cook Islands, will we be mixing with people who are at risk? Should they be going to Whenuapai or Hamilton, rather than the main airport where they might mix with people who are at risk?

"If they're gonna open up, I want absolute damned assurances that they're gonna get this one right, right from day one."