Victorians have snapped up 40,000 extra regional tourism vouchers, aimed at encouraging people to holiday at home and boosting an economy ravaged by COVID-19.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has distanced himself from colleagues criticising the Victorian government for accepting international tennis players but not farm workers into the state.
The United States has called on China to allow an expert team from the World Health Organisation to interview "care givers, former patients and lab workers" in the central city of Wuhan, drawing a rebuke from Beijing officials.
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, as Premier Gladys Berejiklian suggests the government may permit venues to ban entry to those who decline to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
The head of Australia's health department believes it is unlikely international borders will substantially reopen this year, even if most people are vaccinated against coronavirus.