Bledisloe Cup: Wallabies get 'economic exemption' to travel to NZ to play All Blacks despite Covid outbreaks

The Bledisloe Cup will be played in New Zealand after the Government granted the Australian team an economic exemption to enter this country.

The exemption allows quarantine-free travel for the Wallabies, based on the argument that a rugby test match generates up to $20 million in spending.

Today's decision means the first Bledisloe clash can take place in Auckland on August 7.

"Decisions on the other games are dependent on ongoing discussions between New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia," Sport Minister Grant Robertson said.

"This decision was not taken lightly by the Government and given the Wallabies use of a charter flight, there is no restriction on public access to a return flight to New Zealand," he said.

The Wallabies have already been operating in their own bubble and will travel from their base in Queensland on a charter flight to Auckland on Friday morning.

"They will have to fulfill all normal obligations for travel including negative pre-departure tests within 72 hours of their travel."

The Australian team's economic exemption for the three-test series was approved by Acting Minister for Covid-19 Response Dr Ayesha Verrall.

The move to allow the representative team into New Zealand comes after the Government suspended all quarantine-free travel with Australia for at least eight weeks after a surge of community Covid cases in New South Wales.

New Zealand citizens or those who normally live here were given seven days to return home on managed return flights when the Government made the announcement last Friday.

Returnees from the two worst affected Australian states face extra conditions on returning.

Travellers from NSW are required to stay in MIQ for 14 days, while those arriving from Victoria need a negative pre-departure test and must immediately self-isolate upon return to New Zealand, and return another negative day-3 test before exiting isolation.

Today New South Wales recorded 172 cases, the highest total of new daily infections in this current outbreak.

A stay-at-home order is currently in place until this Friday, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian imposing stricter lockdown orders for greater Sydney.

Following mass protests in Sydney on Saturday experts are warning of a state-wide lockdown with a high chance demonstrators would have spread the virus into regional areas.

This week the NSW government requested financial modelling for an extension of the Greater Sydney lockdown until mid-September.

The state's crisis cabinet was convening today to discuss a significant lockdown extension, according to The Australian.

The publication reports a September 3 lockdown end date was originally considered but officials were now understood to be modelling multiple financial scenarios, including one where stay-at-home orders remain in place until September 17.