A shrinking of the NSW-Victorian border bubble could be announced as early as today, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has foreshadowed.
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Asked if Victoria would keeps its border closed while NSW has more than 1000 cases a day Mr Andrews said he had no advice to open the border.
"In fact I think you'll see us make some announcements in coming days about shrinking that border bubble, in fact not in coming days, quite soon, the CHO release might even go to some of these border announcements later on today," he said.
Mr Andrews agreed with a journalist when they said realistically the border would not open to NSW "well into next year".
"Yep, and no one is happy about that," he said.
"We'll have many more options when we get to 80 per cent and once they're at 80 per cent."
Mr Andrews said if Victoria had very few cases and there was a raging epidemic in NSW the advice he would likely be given was to keep the border closed.
"The key to all these borders being reopened and even international borders being open is that we get to 80 per cent, we get our freedom back, we find a COVID normal and as is sometimes used, not as a news flash but as a statement of fact, we will be living with COVID then," he said.
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Mr Andrews said he hopes people looks at Victoria's record on border closures.
"We didn't shut our border all last year," he said.
"We have not been the state that has been locking people out, others have done that, we've always left it as a last resort.
"As it stand now the position in NSW, in regional NSW, is very different to the position in regional Victoria. They've got quite a few Shepparton going on at the moment.
"And the reason I will be able to stand up here next week and hopefully announce an opening up and end to lockdown in regional Victoria is because we are not letting people from NSW, or at least very few of them, come in.
"That will change, that will absolutely change when we get to 80 per cent and they are at 80 per cent. That's a good thing, that's not something to quarrel about. I don't have a crystal ball..."
Reopening Victoria's border with NSW will depend on the situation in the larger state not just vaccination targets, Mr Andrews said.
He said he was working as hard as he could to get stranded Victorians home so they can return home before 80 per cent vaccination.
Mr Andrews said more announcements would be made soon.