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Families locked down across greater Sydney will receive childcare fee relief to encourage parents to keep their kids at home.

From Monday, the federal government says it will support childcare centres to waive gap fees if children don't attend.

The fee is the difference between the government's childcare subsidy and the remaining cost paid by parents.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the opt-in measure could benefit around 216,000 families across 3600 centres in greater Sydney.

"If your child doesn't go to the childcare facility for a particular day during this lockdown, then you wont be charged a gap fee," he told ABC radio on Thursday.

"The centre will continue to be supported and you won't lose your places in those childcare centres."

Greater Sydney's lockdown has been extended until at least July 30, as the city struggles to control the spread of COVID-19 particularly in the southwest.

Mr Morrison defended the fact childcare centres won't be forced to waive the fee, saying the voluntary measure had worked in previous lockdowns.

"The families and the centres know each other very well and they'll come to those arrangements, and that's proved to be the most effective and flexible way to deal with the challenge," he said.

© AAP 2021

Australians finding themselves in lockdown due to COVID-19 will get access to support in the second week of restrictions under a plan Scott Morrison will take to the national cabinet on Friday.

The decision came as Victorian officials considered a fifth lockdown, which would put the nation's two biggest states in quarantine.

Mr Morrison said he was not aware what Victorian planned to do, but it is understood a lockdown could be be reinstated from midnight.

"We don't want to see these lockdowns. We prefer they not happen," the prime minister told reporters on Thursday.

"As we're learning with the Delta strain, it's highly infectious and it's important we understand if these things become necessary, then Australians and Australian businesses have the confidence about what the arrangements will be."

Under Mr Morrison's proposal, support payments of either $375 or $600 a week - depending on work hours lost - would start from the second week of a lockdown but be paid in arrears, and the liquid assets test would be immediately waived.

Victoria recorded two new cases on Thursday in addition to 10 additional cases recorded in the previous 24 hours.

The outbreak was imported by Sydney removalists as NSW grapples with an outbreak from a driver who transported international flight crew.

NSW reported 65 new cases, with greater Sydney's lockdown to continue at least until July 30.

As state premiers push for additional vaccine access, Mr Morrison has continued to blame the troubled rollout on Australia's expert medical panel.

"We have had a cautious approach in Australia on medical advice," he told ABC radio.

"We wanted to follow all the usual steps and processes to ensure the vaccines were appropriately qualified before they were used in the community."

Mr Morrison said the initial plan was to rely on AstraZeneca vaccines that could be manufactured in Australia.

Earlier this year, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended AstraZeneca vaccines be reserved for people aged 50 plus and then over 60s.

This was because of the risk of rare but potentially fatal blood clots linked to AstraZeneca.

But the Sydney outbreak led ATAGI to update its advice again, saying younger people in greater Sydney should consider getting the AstraZeneca jab because of Pfizer shortages.

The recommended wait time between AstraZeneca doses was also cut from from 12 weeks to between four and eight.

"We received medical advice that has changed on two occasions and that medical advice, as I made very clear to ATAGI at the time, was based on an assumption cases would remain low," Mr Morrison said.

"The balance of risk assessment were based on low case numbers in Australia.

"It has created some confusion in the public."

© AAP 2021

"Incredibly sad" footage showing a teenage girl being repeatedly punched while students watch on raises questions about bullying for the wider community, Queensland's deputy premier says.

The state's education department has confirmed it's aware of "an alleged violent incident" which took place outside school hours on Monday near the Garden City Shopping Centre, south of Brisbane.

"Bullying is not acceptable inside or outside the school gate and the students involved in the incident are being dealt with in line with the schools' student code of conduct," the department said in a statement.

"Counselling and guidance support is also being provided to students affected by the incident."

Asked about the video on Wednesday, Mr Miles said no 13-year-old should be subjected to the violence shown in the footage.

"I'm assured that while the other people in that footage go to different schools, each of those schools is working through their respective disciplinary policies, and that discipline will be applied," he said.

"Our schools do a lot of work to try to stamp out bullying, but our schools can't fix everything, this didn't happen at school, it happened at a shopping centre."

While schools had a role to play in addressing bullying, Mr Miles said the influence of families and wider society was also important.

He said the incident should trigger a conversation about how a 13-year-old child could come to experience "this kind of violence".

© AAP 2021