A plan to quarantine arriving international students in the Australian state of Tasmania will not go ahead, local officials said Tuesday, after reports said a deal was in the process of being made.

New South Wales Treasurer Dominic Perrottet told local parliament on Monday that he had been working with officials in Tasmania to devise a deal whereby international students are quarantined in Australia's southernmost capital city of Hobart, before being moved to New South Wales, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The plan was an attempt to get around strict limits on the number of overseas arrivals each Australian jurisdiction can process.

However, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said in a statement on Tuesday morning that due to public health concerns the deal was no longer being considered.

"The Tasmanian government confirms it has received an approach from the New South Wales government to quarantine international students on their behalf. At this time, however, we have advised this is not under consideration with our priority remaining the safe management of seasonal workers entering the state and our own international students when public health advice is that it is safe to do so,"  Gutwein said.

Currently, New South Wales accepts close to half of all Australia's arrivals, or just over 3,000 people per week, many of whom are from other states.

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