Quarantine free travel from all Australian states and territories has been paused for three days, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced in a statement late Saturday night.
The pause runs from 10.30pm Saturday until 11.59pm on Tuesday 29 June (NZT).
The decision follows updated public health advice from officials on Saturday night.
"There are now multiple cases and outbreaks in Australia in differing stages of containment and the health risk for New Zealand in response to these cases is increasing."
Minister Hipkins said that as a result the government has taken the precautionary step of temporarily widening the current pause with New South Wales to include all of Australia.
“I acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience that comes with this pause, but given the high level of transmissibility of what appears to be the Delta variant, and the fact that there are now multiple community clusters, it is the right thing to do to keep Covid-19 out of New Zealand.”