Tamworth quarantine centre: State in talks with Commonwealth about Tamworth Flight School scheme, Premier says

Federal MP Barnaby Joyce wants to see the under-utilised Tamworth Flight Training Centre used to quarantine Australians returning from overseas.

Asked if the idea was a realistic proposition, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state had no interest in changing their own hotel quarantine arrangements.

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But if the Federal government wanted to establish one in Tamworth, the state would consider the idea.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro "has been working with the Commonwealth government on those things," the Premier said at a brief press conference on Friday afternoon.

"They are complex and we want to make sure everything's taken into consideration."

She pointed to the "Warriors model" for a potential "opportunity" for the city to make a contribution to clearing the hotel quarantine backlog.

"If you're talking about wholesale, massive changing of the quarantine system, that's not realistic," she said.

"However, doing one-off special things like the Warriors has just shown what Tamworth's capable of, and there could be opportunities in the future where we do that again."

There is a cap on the number of passengers who can land in Australia due to a lack of capacity in the hotel quarantine system. Not all states participate in the system.

As a result thousands of people like Tamworth-born eye doctor Phoebe MacKenzie are stuck overseas. In her case, she will soon be "homeless, jobless, and visaless" while local ophthalmologists struggle to meet demand.

Meanwhile, the premier defended a decision not to include Tamworth on a list of the first hospitals set to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rural hospitals like Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Coffs Harbour will be among the first 11 to get the Pfizer vaccine from next month, but not the Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital.

The Premier said the Federal government is responsible for the vaccine rollout, and the plan revealed by media today is just "preliminary planning".

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"What you've read today is just preliminary planning, it's not the final planning," she said.

"We're still waiting for the Federal government to come back to us on their plans, but I can say - and the Deputy Premier and I sit on the crisis cabinet committee, which looks after these COVID issues - and we've already started discussing how we'll get the vaccine out to very regional communities, very remote communities. And that's high up on our list for NSW.

"But I should say, we're still going through that planning process, nothing is final."

She said people should not make the "assumption" that they may need to travel up to three hours to get a jab.

"Please be assured that no matter where you live in NSW, once the vaccine is available, if you want it, we'll make sure - obviously through the Federal government - that you have access to it."