Received

Fully vaccinated visa holders, skilled workers and international students will be allowed to return to Australia from next month, nearly two years after international borders closed due to the pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said more than 200,000 visa holders would be eligible to enter Australia from December 1, without needing to apply for a travel exemption.

Travellers from Japan and South Korea with a valid visa will also be allowed back into Australia from that date, provided they have been fully vaccinated.

It follows a similar travel bubble arrangement with Singapore, which started earlier this month.

The prime minister said the move was another important step forward in the national plan following COVID-19 lockdowns.

"The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back," Mr Morrison said.

"It'll mean a lot for the economies of our country who need those workers and want to see those students return."

It's estimated more than 233,000 visa holders would be able to travel to Australia from December 1 without the need to quarantine.

Those eligible for entry will include people on humanitarian visas, student visas, economic visas as well as temporary and provisional family visas.

The government has forecast an additional one million visas will be made available for all other travellers at a date yet to be specified.

Those on eligible visas looking to travel to Australia will need to be fully vaccinated with a vaccine recognised by the medical regulator, provide proof of their vaccine status and have had a negative PCR test within three days of departure.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said Australia was reopening to the world.

"These changes are crucially important to Australia as we go through our reopening phase," she said.

Mr Morrison said the government would cautiously look at the COVID situation in Europe before allowing tourists from the continent to return to Australia.

The prime minister said the resumption of broader international travel to visa holders was due to Australia's high vaccination rates.

More than 85 per cent of the eligible population over 16 are fully vaccinated while 91.5 per cent have had one dose.

"Australians can look forward to the Christmas and holiday season in a way that few around the world can," he said.

Despite his earlier comments saying people were sick of government interference, Mr Morrison said all the COVID-19 lockdowns across the country had been necessary to keep people safe.

"Our government has had to make decisions that has had to reach into people's lives and it was very necessary ... in the midst of that pandemic," he said.

"What we've done as a government is we haven't been driven by ideology, we've been driven by the practical situation."

Victoria reported 1029 new cases on Monday and a further three deaths.

In NSW there were 180 infections and one death reported on Monday.

In the ACT there were 11 cases registered in the past reporting period.

© AAP 2021

More than 20 people have been injured when an SUV drove through a crowded Christmas parade in suburban Wisconsin, with at least one person killed.

Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said the suspect vehicle had been recovered and there were no further threats after the incident on Sunday in Waukesha, about 30 kilometres west of Milwaukee.

People near downtown Waukesha were being asked, however, to shelter in place, local media reported.

The nearby Carroll University campus tweeted it was "on lockdown due to an ongoing incident. Please stay safe and in your location until further notice and shelter in place".

"A red SUV drove into our Christmas parade that we were holding downtown. More than 20 individuals were injured as a result of this incident," Thompson told reporters.

Authorities have identified a person of interest in the case, he added, without giving further details.

Some of the injured were taken to hospital by ambulance, others by police and still more by family and friends.

Some witnesses and local media reported shots had been fired from the vehicle as it careened through the parade. Reuters could not immediately verify that information.

A video posted online of the incident showed a red SUV ploughing through the parade, appearing to run over more than a dozen people.

In a second video, police appeared to open fire on the vehicle as it crashed through street barriers.

The local CBS affiliate later showed a picture on Twitter of what appeared to be the involved red SUV with its bonnet crumpled and front fender hanging off, parked in a driveway.

A woman told FOX6 TV station the SUV hit a dance team of young girls. She said the immediate reaction was silence, followed by screaming, running and checking on those injured, FOX6 reported.

Another witness estimated the SUV was going about 65km/h when it hit the crowd, the TV station said.

Photos and videos of Waukesha circulating on Twitter showed police cars and ambulances crowding a street decked out with Christmas lights in the aftermath of the incident. Bundled up people huddled on footpaths as dusk fell.

The incident occurred shortly before 5pm, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

"As we were walking back in between the buildings ... we saw an SUV cross over, just put the pedal to the metal and just zooming full speed along the parade route. And then we heard a loud bang, and just deafening cries and screams from people who are struck by the vehicle," Angelito Tenorio, an alderman in nearby West Allis, told the newspaper.

Police officers ran down the street, telling parade watchers to take shelter in stores, the newspaper said.

© RAW 2021

Chinese tennis star Peng Shaui had a video call on Sunday with the president of the International Olympic Committee and told him she was safe and well, the IOC said in a statement.

Photos and videos of Peng at a tournament in Beijing earlier on Sunday had done little to dampen international concerns, following a nearly three-week public absence after she alleged that a former senior Chinese official sexually assaulted her.

In a statement, the IOC said that at the start of the 30-minute call with its president Thomas Bach, Peng had thanked the IOC for its concern about her well-being.

"She explained that she is safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time," the IOC's statement said.

"That is why she prefers to spend her time with friends and family right now. Nevertheless, she will continue to be involved in tennis, the sport she loves so much."

France's foreign minister had earlier called on the Chinese authorities to provide more reassurance, echoing a statement by the Women's Tennis Association that the images were "insufficient" proof.

"I'm expecting only one thing: that she speaks," France's Jean-Yves Le Drian told LCI television, adding that there could be unspecified diplomatic consequences if China did not clear up the situation. The United States and Britain had also called for China to provide proof of Peng's whereabouts.

Current and former tennis players, from Naomi Osaka to Serena Williams to Billie Jean King, had joined the calls seeking to confirm she was safe, using the social media hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai?

The concern over Peng came as global rights groups and others have called for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February over China's human rights record.

On November 2, Peng posted on Chinese social media that former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her several years ago.

Neither Zhang nor the Chinese government have commented on her allegation. Peng's social media post was quickly deleted and the topic has been blocked from discussion on China's heavily censored internet.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-backed Global Times, posted a 25-second video on Sunday that showed her smiling, waving and autographing giant tennis balls for children at the Fila Kids Junior Tennis Challenger Finals tournament.

The Global Times is published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party.

The tennis event's official WeChat page shows photos of her at the tournament.

Peng, 35, was the world No.1 doubles player in 2014, the first Chinese player to achieve a top ranking, after winning the doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014.

On Saturday night, Peng visited a popular restaurant in downtown Beijing, according to a video posted by Hu that a restaurant manager confirmed to Reuters on Sunday.

Seven people including Peng were at the Sichuanese restaurant, said the manager, Zhou Hongmei, adding that they ate in a private room and were joined by the restaurant's owner.

"It was crowded at the restaurant as usual," Zhou said, showing a bill that included noodles and bamboo shoots. "They didn't have much. I think they mostly chatted."

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which has threatened to pull tournaments out of China, said the photos and video were "insufficient" and did not address the WTA's concerns.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said it would continue to seek confirmation from Peng that she was safe.

© RAW 2021