'Covid is coming': PM fires a warning to locals enjoying normal life in Queensland and WA to get vaccinated NOW - and says all states must learn to live with the virus

Scott Morrison has urged residents in lockdown-free Queensland and Western Australia to get vaccinated now because 'Covid is coming'.

Australia's two largest states are lagging behind the rest of the nation in their vaccination rates, with 47 per cent of Queenslanders and 46 per cent of Western Australians having had at least one dose.

The ACT and NSW are leading the country with 59 per cent of residents on at least one dose, according to official figures released on Monday.

A young couple are seen walking along Cottesloe Beach foreshore in virus-free Perth

In an interview with KIIS FM on Tuesday morning, Mr Morrison said residents in WA and QLD were less fussed about getting the jab because their lives are largely normal.

Queensland recently eliminated a small outbreak and removed restrictions and WA has not had a locally acquired Covid-19 case since August 5.

'I was talking to people there yesterday,' Mr Morrison said, referring to WA's relatively low vaccination rate. 

'Because they've had no Covid cases, because they're not in lockdown, they may be thinking ''well I don't have to get it''.

'But the truth is this, Covid is coming. Eventually with Delta it gets there. It's inevitable,' he said.

Tasmania is also Covid free but has vaccinated 55 per cent of over 16s due to its older population. 

People wait inside the mass vaccination hub at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane

The NT is on 51 per cent, SA is on 49 per cent and Victoria is on 51 per cent. 

Under Australia's national re-opening plan, states agreed to stop trying to eliminate Covid once 70 per cent are vaccinated. 

But cautious governments in Queensland and WA have threatened to renege on the plan as cases soar in Victoria and NSW.

The Prime Minister compared Australia's situation to the 2013 children's movie The Croods about a family which survives natural disasters by sheltering in a cave. 

'You've eventually got to get out of the cave,' he said.

'There's always someone who wants to stay in the cave - and then there's the young girl who wants to live outside the cave and move on. Call it The Croods plan: we're getting out.'

Mr Morrison said the national plan will give freedom back to millions of Australians. The country's two biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne are in lockdown. 

'It won't be normal as we knew it but it will be a new normal because Covid will still be there,' he said. 

Mr Morrison on Monday said lockdowns will do 'more harm than good' once 70 per cent are vaccinated.

The national plan states that Australians will be free to leave the country - possibly with home quarantine on return - once 80 per cent are vaccinated, making it very difficult for premiers to continue eliminating Covid.  

A fired-up Scott Morrison has slammed rogue states who are threatening to keep Covid-19 restrictions even after high vaccination rates are achieved as he declared 'this Groundhog Day has to end'.

Queensland has joined Western Australia in threatening to maintain restrictions such as border closures even after 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated.

The move contradicts the re-opening plan, agreed by all premiers at National Cabinet, which says Australia will relax restrictions once 70 per cent are vaccinated and stop minimising cases once 80 per cent are jabbed.  

The Prime Minister defended his plan - which is based on scientific modelling - in a press conference on Monday morning and said Australia must learn to live with Covid-19.

Sydney's lockdown will last until at least October. Pictured: Sydney residents exercising on Monday

'It does puzzle me - it puzzles me - why anyone would want to go against a plan that has been so carefully prepared,' he said.

Referring to lockdowns in Melbourne and Sydney, he said: 'This is not a sustainable way to live in this country, without those freedoms that we all cherish.'

And in a warning to overly cautious states, he said there is no alternative to opening up once vaccination rates are high.

'Because if not at 70 per cent and 80 per cent, then when? Then when?

'We have to deal with it. Otherwise we stay in the cave forever. That's not a sustainable solution,' he said.

'I understand people will be concerned that cases may rise... the task is not to delay, the task is not to fear, the task is to embrace, prepare, plan, ensure that we are in a position to open .'

The Prime Minister said that once 70 per cent of Australians are vaccinated then lockdowns will do more harm than good.

'There will be risk attached to opening , but there is also risk being stuck where we are. This Groundhog Day has to end,' he said in reference to the 1993 film where the lead character gets stuck in a repeating 24-hour cycle. 

Mr Morrison said Labor was deliberately undermining the re-opening plan for its own political purposes. Anthony Albanese on Sunday falsely said the plan could only go ahead if Covid-19 case numbers were low.

Anti-lockdown protesters take to the streets of Melbourne on Saturday, August 21

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles on Sunday said the state may keep its border closed to NSW if the southern state has high case numbers, regardless of vaccination rates.

'We're not going to get ahead of ourselves. We look to what's happening in New South Wales every day and adjust our posture accordingly,' Mr Miles said.

He falsely suggested the national plan was no longer valid because NSW was recording such high case numbers, with 830 on Sunday.

'We're signed up and committed to the plan that national cabinet endorsed but that was a plan that was endorsed before the New South Wales outbreak,' he said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also said there would be ongoing restrictions after 80 per cent are jabbed, claiming 'the goalposts have changed'.

Queensland has threatened to renege on the national re-opening plan. Pictured: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

'Our aim is always to suppress that virus but even 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination rates, as I have said and as is in the modelling as well, there will be some limited restrictions and some limited, or specified, lockdowns.'

The Prime Minster has been at pains to point out that the plan is not predicated on case numbers and can go ahead regardless of infection rates.

Victoria recorded 71 new cases on Monday, its highest total in the most recent outbreak, while NSW recorded 818 new infections.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has even vowed to turn off financial support for any state that goes rogue and keeps trying to eliminate Covid even after 80 per cent are jabbed.

Mr Morrison refused to say if that was a bluff, dismissing the scenario as 'hypothetical'. 

WA Premier Mark McGowan threatened to keep restrictions in place last week, telling Sky News: 'Our preferred option is zero Covid obviously and that's what we'll attempt to do.

'We don't want to have deaths and we don't want to have any spread of the virus.'