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Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has apologised to Scott Morrison for calling him a "a hypocrite and a liar" in a leaked text message intended for former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.

The text message, obtained and published by Nine newspapers, was sent from Mr Joyce on March 22, 2021 to a third party who passed the message on to Ms Higgins, a month after she went public with allegations she was raped in a ministerial office in 2019.

"Tell BH (Brittany Higgins) I and Scott, he is Scott to me until I have to recognise his office, don't get along," a screenshot of the text reads.

"He is a hypocrite and a liar from my observations and that is over a long time. I have never trusted him and I dislike how he earnestly rearranges the truth to a lie."

Mr Joyce was a backbencher at the time but returned to the Nationals leadership three months later after defeating Michael McCormack in a spill.

In the past 24 hours, the deputy prime minister said he became aware the screenshot was circulating among third parties.

"While the text message was supposed to be private, what I said in that message was wrong, and I have unreservedly apologised to the prime minister for my comments," Mr Joyce said in a statement.

"It is common knowledge that in the past the prime minister and I had not always seen eye to eye.

"But I have worked extremely closely with the prime minister over the last seven months since I returned to the role of deputy prime pinister, and the prime minister is a person of high integrity and honesty in what is possibly the most difficult job in the nation."

Mr Morrison confirmed his deputy approached him this week and told him about the text messages.

"He sincerely apologised and I immediately accepted his apology in good faith," he said in a statement.

"I understand Barnaby was in a different headspace last year, both professionally and personally, and so I know he genuinely no longer feels this way."

The prime minister added relationships "change over time", "politicians are humans beings too" and "none of us are perfect".

"Since coming to the role of DPM (deputy prime minister), it is fair to say that we both positively surprised each other. We were never close before this and never pretended to be," Mr Morrison said.

It follows the Nationals leader attacking a Liberal cabinet minister who leaked damaging text messages labelling the prime minister a "horrible, horrible person" who was "actively spreading lies".

Mr Joyce said the text exchange between the minister and former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian should be ignored because of the leaker's intention to deliberately damage the government.

Ms Berejiklian's successor NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet told Sydney radio 2GB that Mr Joyce's leaked text was "incredibly unhelpful" and a "complete distraction away from what the real issues of the day".

© AAP 2022

AUSTRALIAN VACCINATION NUMBERS:

* There have been 50,704,279 vaccine doses administered in the national COVID-19 rollout up to Thursday, including 254,407 recorded in the previous 24 hours.

* Of that total, 31,393,111 have been administered by Commonwealth facilities, an increase of 202,345 in the previous 24 hours.

* State and territory facilities have administered 19,311,168 vaccines, an increase of 52,062 in the last 24 hours.

* More than 95 per cent of people aged 16 and over have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 93.6 per cent are double vaccinated.

* A total of 8,631,286 adults have received more than two doses - a booster or top-up shot - an increase of 212,610 in the previous 24 hours.

AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:

* 32,513 new cases: 10,698 in NSW, 11,238 in Victoria, 6857 in Queensland, 1363 in South Australia, 449 in the ACT, 570 in Tasmania, 1306 in the Northern Territory and 32 in Western Australia.

* The national death toll is 4073 (+84): NSW 1520 (+31), Victoria 2124 (+36), Queensland 247 (+13), South Australia 125 (+three), ACT 27 (+one), NT four, Tasmania 19 and WA nine. (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).

GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:

* Cases: at least 388,066,090

* Deaths: at least 5,712,458

* Vaccine doses administered: 10,011,691,400

Data current as at 1700 AEDT on February 4, taking in federal and state/territory government updates and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre figures.

© AAP 2022

Economists are sticking to their guns when its comes to predicting a cash rate rise this year, even if the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest economic forecasts suggest it might be some way off.

The RBA released its quarterly statement on monetary policy, predicting faster economic growth in the near term, and sharply rising inflation and a drop in the unemployment rate below four per cent out to mid-2024.

But reiterating comments made by RBA governor Philip Lowe earlier this week, the quarterly statement released on Friday said the board is prepared to be patient as it monitors how the various factors affecting inflation in Australia evolve.

"We have sympathy for some patience from the RBA as it awaits further signs of labour market strength but their implicit base case of 2023 looks a little complacent," RBC Capital Markets chief economist Su-Lin Ong said.

Speculation of an increase in the cash rate from a record low 0.1 per cent - which would be the first increase in more than a decade - gathered pace last month when inflation for the December quarter proved much stronger than expected.

Financial markets are predicting an increase this year starting in May, while economists see a move more likely in August or September, with a further rise before the end of the year.

The RBA has revised its inflation forecast up, with the interest-rate sensitive underlying rate to reach 3.25 per cent by June this year and then level out at 2.75 per cent until at least June 2024.

But at the same time the RBA said at 2.6 per cent, underlying inflation has only just reached the midpoint of the target range for the first time in more than seven years.

"As the board has stated previously, it will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the two to three per cent target range," the statement said.

Pushed during his address to the National Press Club this week, Dr Lowe conceded it was "plausible" that the RBA could lift the cash rate this year.

Ahead of the December quarter national accounts on March 2, the RBA expects the economy to have grown by five per cent over 2021, rather than three per cent as previously forecast.

It now forecasts growth at 4.25 per cent for 2022.

"Backed by the Morrison government economic plan, which kept businesses in business and Australians in jobs during the greatest economic shock since the Great Depression, Australia has outperformed every major advanced economy and is well on the road to recovery," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told AAP.

Annual wage growth is anticipated to have picked up to close to 2.5 per cent by the end of 2021, compared with 2.2 per cent in the September quarter, but still lagging the rate of inflation.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said it confirms what hardworking Australians already know and what the government is desperate for them to ignore.

"Their real wages are going backwards, making it harder for families to make ends meet and keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living," he told AAP.

The December quarter wage price index is due on February 23.

Further out, wage growth is forecast to gradually strengthen further as the unemployment rate declines, reaching 3.25 per cent by mid-2024, which would be the fastest pace since 2012.

"The RBA's forecasts imply that if it was pressed to give calendar guidance for the first rate hike it would probably indicate the first half of 2023," ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said.

"We are earlier than this because we are more optimistic about wages growth."

The unemployment rate is expected to further fall to four per cent by June compared with a 13-year low of 4.2 per cent currently.

It is then expected to drop even lower to 3.75 per cent, cracking the four per cent barrier for the first time in 50 years.

© AAP 2022