Speaking on Today, Minister for Trade and Tourism Dan Tehan said he would be involved in key discussions with Singapore counterparts in the coming months.
Other Pacific nations, such as Fiji, could potentially be brought into the mix.
“One of the keys is making sure that we can get that vaccine passport validated,” Mr Tehan said.
“That will enable that two-way travel to occur, hopefully without quarantining down the track.”
“What we need to do is get people moving again [and with] the confidence to travel.”
Mr Tehan said he was “optimistic that we might be able to get something up and running by the middle of the year.”
Singapore was progressing well with its vaccine roll-out, Mr Tehan said, as was Australia.
However, the Trans-Tasman bubble is not an even two-way street.
New Zealanders can travel freely into most Australian states, but Australians must quarantine for two weeks across the ditch.
This content first appear on 9news