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The NSW government is downplaying a data breach after thousands of sensitive business addresses were inadvertently published online, as thousands of nurses went on strike for better pay and work conditions.

The breach was revealed as NSW recorded 8201 new COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths and striking public hospital nurses marched on parliament.

There are 2017 more cases of the virus than reported on Monday.

Twelve men and four women died from the virus, two more than the previous day.

Three people were in their 70s, seven people were in their 80s, and six people were in their 90s.

Five of those who died were not vaccinated.

As the latest wave continues to take its toll on the health system, nurses in around 150 public hospitals hit the streets across the state, striking for the first time in nearly a decade.

A skeleton staff remains at hospitals to ensure patient safety.

Thousands of nurses rallied outside NSW Parliament House to take their message to MPs as they returned to Macquarie Street for the first sitting day of the year.

The strike came in defiance of an 11th hour ruling by the state's Industrial Relations Commission which on Monday ordered the union to refrain from industrial action.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns described the thousands-strong rally as "not so much a strike as a cry for help from ....frontline workers and nurses".

Nurses want one nurse to every four patients on each shift and a pay increase above the government's prescribed public sector offer of 2.5 per cent.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard says he's disappointed by the strike proceeding, saying the changes nurses want would cost the state about $1 billion to implement.

Mr Minns called on the government to sit down and negotiate in good faith with nurse representatives.

"Two years ago, nurses went to work even though we didn't know the long term effects of COVID-19...putting their own safety second and the public interest first," Mr Minns said.

The government is also dealing with a QR code breach where data of some 500,000 physical addresses was divulged, including sensitive sites from defence to domestic violence shelters and prisons.

The locations were collected through the NSW Customer Services Department through its QR code registration system to comply with COVID check-in protocols.

The dataset was then inadvertently made public through a government website.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the information was "uploaded in error".

The government says it has discontinued that specific dataset, but maintains the incident is not a cyber-security breach, nor does it relate to the security or integrity of QR codes, after referring it to the state's Privacy Commissioner.

However, Mr Minns slammed the breach as "completely unacceptable".

"Leaks like this continue to happen and yet we get weak or no response from the government about why it's happened and what steps they're taking to make sure it doesn't happen again".

"All of us, me included, have provided enormous amounts of personal information to the NSW government, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic," Mr Minns said.

"We've got every right and expectation that it will be held securely by our government.

© AAP 2022

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Flood repairs have been completed across 300 kilometres of rail line between Adelaide and Tarcoola, restoring freight routes through South Australia into both Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation says the repairs involved 100 staff working separate shifts around the clock for 24 days to restore 18 separate breaks after heavy rain and flooding across the state last month.

In some places, more than 200 millimetres of rain fell in a 24-hour period, with meteorologists describing it as a one-in-200 year weather event.

ARTC spokesman Simon Ormsby said all of Australia owned a debt of thanks to the crews and contractors who had worked extremely hard to bring the interstate network back online.

"Crews from Port Augusta led the charge with support by teams from Kalgoorlie, Adelaide and Port Augusta," he said.

"Contractors and staff from other areas were also called in to assist due to the overall scale of the operation."

Work crews shifted more than 50,000 tonnes of ballast and rock to complete the repairs and in some places were forced to re-build access roads to get heavy machinery to the site.

Nine freight trains were expected to access the repaired network on Tuesday allowing much-needed supplies such as fresh food and retail goods to move through the rail corridor.

The SA floods also closed the Stuart Highway, the main road access between Adelaide and Darwin, with several sections left submerged for days.

The highway began to reopen to heavy vehicles, 4WDs and light vehicles from late last week.

© AAP 2022

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New low-cost domestic airline Bonza has unveiled 25 routes it will offer between 16 regional destinations in Australia's eastern states.

The carrier will offer flights between Albury, Avalon, Bundaberg, Cairns, Coffs Harbour, Gladstone, Mackay, Melbourne, Mildura, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba Wellcamp, Townsville and the Whitsunday Coast.

Bonza says its tickets will go on sale within two weeks and it's aiming to launch its first flight in mid-2022 provided it gets regulatory approval.

The airline has also announced its home base will be the Sunshine Coast Airport in Queensland with a secondary base in Melbourne.

Former Virgin Blue executive Tim Jordan, who's leading the venture, says the carrier wants to attract regional travellers rather than compete with current airlines on capital city routes, such as between Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

He says Bonza will make it easier for travellers to get from region to region without needing to layover in capital cities.

"With destinations ranging from Albury to the Whitsundays, travellers will now be able to fly, instead of impossibly long road trips as well as fly direct without a stopover in a major city," Mr Jordan said in a statement.

"Aussies can look forward to enjoying more time at their destination and spending less of their hard earned cash getting there in the first place."

He also said 20 of Bonza's 25 routes are not offered by other airlines and all but one of the 16 destinations were not served by low-cost carriers.

Bonza's routes will be serviced by five 737 MAX aircraft, which seat 138-204 people, with the carrier planning to have eight planes operating by mid-2023.

The planes will have white and purple livery.

The Bonza head office team will comprise about 100 people, while each plane will require about 50 workers.

© AAP 2022

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Nine months after he was jailed on rape charges, former NRL star Jarryd Hayne will walk free from prison, his convictions quashed.

The 33-year-old was on Tuesday granted bail in the Downing Centre District Court, a day after a NSW appeal court overturned his convictions and ordered a third trial.

Hayne appeared by audio visual link from Cooma Correctional Centre, clad in prison greens, as the judge imposed conditions on his release.

He must pay a $20,000 bail surety within seven days, must surrender his passport, and report to police three times a week, in bail conditions agreed upon by his lawyer and the prosecutors.

He also must not contact or intimidate the alleged victim or any witnesses, and cannot enter the Newcastle local government area.

Hayne was in May sentenced to five years and nine months behind bars - with a non-parole period of three years and eight months - after he was found guilty of two charges of sexual assault without consent.

The ex-Parramatta player faced a retrial after his first ended with a hung jury.

The Crown contended in both trials he forcibly performed oral and digital sexual intercourse on a woman in her NSW Hunter bedroom on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.

The alleged assault left her bleeding from her genitalia, they said.

But Hayne's barrister Tim Game SC successfully argued for his convictions to be overturned on two appeal grounds.

The jury was given legal directions by Justice Helen Syme's that were "flawed in almost every possible way", Mr Game said.

He also succeeded in convincing the appeal court it was an error to reverse a ruling from the first trial in relation to evidence he said explained the complainant's "abiding interest in having sex with Jarryd Hayne".

Another two appeal grounds - including that the jury's verdict was unreasonable - were dismissed.

The matter will return to court on Friday, to fix a date for the third trial, which is expected to go for two to three weeks.

The earliest a trial of that length may be able to proceed is October, District Court judge Christopher O'Brien said.

"After that, we're looking at 2023," he said.

© AAP 2022