Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the state had no alternative but to enter a seven-day lockdown to contain a growing outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne's western suburbs.

More than 16 million Australians will once again be plunged into lockdown as extra coronavirus vaccine doses are pumped into outbreak hot spots.

More Australian women are having children later in life, with the number giving birth over 35 almost doubling in the space of two decades.

Stadiums and shops could be the next frontier of Australia's coronavirus vaccine rollout, with a plan to administer drive-through jabs being weighed up.

More than a million Australian households have completed their census forms, six days ahead of the official national headcount.

Police will patrol Sydney supermarkets to ensure laws on QR codes and face masks are being obeyed.

Queensland's growing delta outbreak means the AstraZeneca vaccine is a more viable option for younger Queenslanders, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says.

Australians will be able to make free calls from public payphones across the country under a new Telstra initiative to promote connections in the age of social isolation.

Residents along the Victoria-NSW border will have to justify their movements to authorities under a coronavirus-induced border bubble crackdown.

A turtle is found dead on average every 20 days in a shark net lining beaches in and around Sydney, new data shows.