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Two children have died and several are critically injured after they fell about 10 metres from a jumping castle that was blown into the air at a primary school in northwest Tasmania.

Hillcrest Primary School was holding an end-of-year event on Thursday when a wind gust caught the jumping castle about 10am.

Tasmania Police initially confirmed one child had died, before reporting a second death in the early afternoon.

"Several children fell from the jumping castle. It appears they may have fallen from a height of approximately 10 metres," Commander Debbie Williams told reporters at the scene in Devonport.

"A number of the children have been taken to hospital and some are in a critical condition.

"This is a very tragic event and our thoughts are with the families and the wider school community and also our first responders.

"This has been a very distressing and confronting scene."

Several rescue helicopters were used to transport the children after police units and multiple ambulance crews rushed to the scene.

Police are expected to provide further information on Thursday afternoon and have indicated counselling will be available to families and the community.

The school announced on Facebook it was closing for the remainder of Thursday and asked parents to urgently collect their children.

Hillcrest Primary was holding a 'Big Day In' celebration to mark the end of the school year.

Members of the public have been told to avoid the area.

Bob Smith, who lives near the school, told The Mercury newspaper he saw kids on the ground.

"There was one really strong gust of wind on what is a beautiful calm day," he said.

"At first we thought it might have been an emergency services training exercise then the reality of what was happening kicked in."

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein passed on his thoughts to the community.

"My thoughts are obviously with ... the parents of the children that have been injured and with the emergency services," he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the accident as unthinkably heartbreaking.

"Young children on a fun day out, together with their families and it turns to such horrific tragedy. At this time of year, it just breaks your heart," he told reporters on the NSW Central Coast.

© AAP 2021

Many Queenslanders must choose between paying for food, rent or bills every week, a report says.

The Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) has called on the federal government to increase income support, saying their research shows the state's vulnerable households were struggling with poverty.

QCOSS said only two of their report's seven sample low-income Queensland households were able to meet a basic standard of living.

The QCOSS report analysed income and expenditure in vulnerable households in 15 regions across the state while also surveying more than 100 frontline community service staff.

"They said that the primary impact of inadequate income on a household is the inability to meet day-to-day expenses such as food, clothing, rent, energy and water," the report said.

One of the biggest headaches was housing costs, with some in regions such as the Gold Coast spending up to 46 per cent of their income on rent or mortgage payments.

"We are in a housing crisis and the increasing cost of living means that many people are making impossible choices between rent, food and paying the bills," QCOSS CEO Aimee McVeigh said.

"Our report shows that low-income households are unable to make ends meet.

"Government can put an end to poverty by lifting income support. The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that, when there is political will, it is possible to pull people out of poverty."

The report said employment provided no guarantees for the state's vulnerable with four of the model households "working poor" with a weekly deficit despite members having a job.

Working families - two parents on full-time and casual employment with two dependents - were one of the worst hit, ending a typical week with a deficit across the state, rising to $234 on the Sunshine Coast and $205 in Cairns, in the far north.

Of the seven households modelled, only a student working part-time had a regular weekly surplus across all of the report's 15 regions.

The other household samples used were an unemployed adult, a casually employed adult with two dependents, a senior couple, an unemployed woman not eligible for age pension and a non-resident family unable to access government social support.

The latter was another to struggle badly to make ends meet, with a weekly deficit across all 15 regions rising to $235 in Cairns and $207 on the Gold Coast.

© AAP 2021

President Joe Biden has nominated the daughter of John F Kennedy to be the United States' next ambassador to Australia.

The White House listed Caroline Kennedy among eight recommended appointments for key diplomatic and agency postings.

The US Senate will need to confirm the nomination before her posting is made official.

Ms Kennedy said she was grateful for the part Australian and Solomon Islands coast watchers played in rescuing her father from a sunk torpedo boat in the Pacific during World War II and would work to repay this debt.

"I look forward to collaborating with the government of Australia to strengthen our alliance, improve global health and increase vaccine access during this terrible pandemic and to address the urgent climate crisis," she said in a statement.

"I am excited to get to know the Australian people, learn about their fascinating country and share with them what I love most about America."

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's defence director Michael Shoebridge said Ms Kennedy would make an effective and well-liked ambassador after serving as the US envoy to Japan between 2013 and 2017.

"Her time as US ambassador to Japan gives us insights into how she will approach the role here in Canberra. From this, we can expect she will bring a strong historical understanding, including in the areas of defence and national security, to her role," he told AAP.

This includes her work with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe whose input into the Quad partnership between the US, Australia, Japan and India became core Australian and US policy over the last few years, Mr Shoebridge said.

"Ambassador-designate Kennedy is also an articulate public speaker with a way of weaving in personal and Kennedy family stories and history into topics.

"I think this will make her effective and well-liked, as it will show Australians that Ambassador Kennedy is not just doing her job - she has a sense of purpose that matters."

The US embassy in Canberra said it looked forward to welcoming the ambassador to the bush capital pending her confirmation.

"Her nomination underscores the importance President Biden places on the relationship between our two countries and the close bonds we share," a spokesman from the embassy told AAP.

It comes days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Marise Payne discussed the lag in the appointment of Australia's ambassador, with the two agreeing there needed to be a US Senate-confirmed ambassador "as soon as possible in light of the scope and scale of shared challenges we face".

Senator Payne said Ms Kennedy would bring deep political networks in Washington and a keen understanding of the Indo-Pacific region to the role.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese also welcomed the announcement, saying the daughter of the late former US president was a great choice.

"It's a senior nomination and it shows the importance of the Australia-US alliance, which this year (is) celebrating its 70th anniversary," he said.

Ms Kennedy will become the 27th person to hold the post if she is confirmed.

© AAP 2021