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Disputes between neighbours and housemates took dark turns overnight with police responding to separate incidents in Queensland and NSW.

In Brisbane, a fight between two flatmates on Friday night ended with one allegedly stabbing the other in the chest.

The 54-year-old Beenleigh man faces an attempted murder charge and will front Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

A 48-year-old man was hospitalised and is in a stable condition.

Elsewhere, a NSW man will front court on Saturday after allegedly shooting a gun while arguing with his neighbour in the Hunter region.

No one was injured in the incident which NSW Police said was the result of a dispute between the occupants of two neighbouring properties more than 100 kilometres west of Scone.

A 56-year-old man produced a gun and shot it while the other man ran into nearby bushland uninjured.

Police responded and stopped a ute nearby, arresting the driver, the 56-year-old man, for a number of offences.

They include injured persons / property, unauthorised firearm, breaching an apprehended violence order and drug possession.

© AAP 2022

Australia's two most populous states have reported 39 COVID-19 deaths amid more than 20,000 new virus cases.

NSW announced 11,709 fresh infections on Saturday along with 20 fatalities. Victoria posted 9064 cases and 19 deaths.

There are currently more than 330,000 active coronavirus cases across the nation. Almost 3200 patients are in hospital care and about 130 in ICUs.

Meanwhile, non-COVID hospital wards in Tasmania have closed after three positive patients were detected.

Two cases were discovered in a non-virus ward at Hobart's Repatriation Hospital and another at Royal Hobart Hospital.

The positive patients have been moved to a designated COVID-19 ward at the RHH, with all nearby patients being tested.

The impacted wards are closed to non-COVID admissions and visitors until further notice, except on compassionate grounds, as contact tracing begins.

"Members of the public should be reassured that it is safe to attend the RHH and Repatriation Hospital as required," Acting State Health Commander Dale Webster said.

"While the incident has affected one ward in each facility, all other areas of the hospitals continue to operate."

Elsewhere, Western Australia has moved into a new phase of pandemic management.

The state has scrapped quarantine for asymptomatic close contacts in line with national guidelines, dumped all remaining gathering limits, abolished G2G travel passes and removed vaccine requirements for interstate travellers.

But workplace vaccination mandates remain in place, meaning the unvaccinated are still banned from working in most industries.

South Australia is also scrapping COVID-19 close contact isolation rules, bringing its restrictions into line with NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.

From Saturday, anyone deemed a close contact will no longer need to isolate at home, although they will need to take five rapid antigen tests over the seven-day period.

They will also be required to wear masks when outside the home, are banned from visiting high-risk settings like aged care centres and must tell employers and schools they have contact with of their status.

Close contacts are urged to avoid non-essential gatherings or contact with vulnerable people and must take a PCR test if they develop symptoms and isolate until receiving the result.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 11,709 cases, 20 deaths, 1623 in hospital, 29 in ICU

Victoria: 9064 cases, 19 deaths, 448 in hospital, 30 in ICU

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended delaying a cut to the cost of widely used medications until next year, rather than in the recent budget.

Mr Morrison on Saturday unveiled the $150 million measure that will benefit millions of Australians by reducing the price of medications listed under the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme from January 1.

The $10 savings per script would see the price of PBS medicines drop from $42.50 to $32.50 and would ease the hip-pocket pressure on more than 19 million Australians each year, he said.

It will apply to medications for everyday conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol.

"What we did in the budget was put in place temporary measures to deal with the cost of living," Mr Morrison told reporters in Tasmania where he announced the plan.

"What this is, is the next step. Those temporary measures provide a transition to other longer term measures and this is a longer term measure."

The savings mean an Australian taking a common medication once a month could save $120 a year, while those taking two a month could save $240 a year.

National president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Trent Twomey welcomed the announcement.

"This reduction will help Australians struggling with the cost of living to make ends meet without delaying, deferring or skipping their prescription medicines," he said.

The medicines announcement comes as cost-of-living pressures dominate the election campaign, with inflation spiking to a 20 year high, power prices rising and interest rates expected to rise as early as next week.

The Reserve Bank board meets on Tuesday to decide whether to proceed with the first cash rate rise in 12 years, taking it above a historically low 0.1 per cent.

The last time interest rates rose during an election campaign was in 2007 when the Howard government lost to Labor.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been forced to hose down suggestions he was trying to influence the RBA to hold off on a rate rise during the election campaign.

While the inflation rate was released this week, hitting a two-decade high of 5.1 per cent, the wage price index is not due to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics until May 18 - three days out from the election.

Asked on ABC Radio whether he was urging the RBA to wait for the wages data, Mr Frydenberg said it was an independent decision for the board.

"I'm not saying that I will pre-empt in any way a decision of an independent board," he said.

"I do point out ... that inflation hasn't been within that target band of two to three per cent between 2014 effectively and 2021. It wasn't sustainably within that band."

The rising cost of living is expected to feature heavily in Labor's official campaign launch in Perth on Sunday.

Exiting a week of COVID-19 isolation on Friday, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the issue could be addressed by lifting wages, making child care cheaper and pushing down power prices through a comprehensive energy plan.

Meanwhile in South Australia, independent candidate Jo Dyer has confirmation she's eligible to run for the seat of Boothby after fears she hadn't renounced her UK citizenship in time.

Ms Dyer said her renouncement was officially processed in February, well before the cut off for candidates at this election.

The independent is hoping to win South Australia's only marginal seat from Rachel Swift, the replacement for outgoing Liberal MP, Nicolle Flint.

"I am relieved and look forward to continuing the fight for Boothby," Ms Dyer said.

Australia's constitution bars candidates from running for office if they hold the rights to citizenship to another country, with the rule famously coming to light between 2017 and 2018 when 15 MPs and senators were forced to resign from federal parliament.

© AAP 2022