He was commenting on some Australia states and territories that have said they will continue to pursue elimination and keep their borders closed to New South Wales.
"Any state and territory that thinks that somehow they can protect themselves from Covid with the Delta strain forever, that's just absurd," Morrison told the 9 News Breakfast show today.
"New Zealand can't do that. There were following an elimination strategy. They're in lockdown."
Morrison likened staying on the elimination path to living in a cave.
"Covid is a new different world. We need to get out there and live in it. We can't stay in the cave, and we can get out of it safely," he said.
"If not at 70 or 80 percent [vaccination coverage], then when?"
Australia's plan to ease border restrictions is similar to New Zealand's, but Morrison has linked certain phases of reopening to vaccination targets of 70 and 80 percent.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted the advice from an expert panel - chaired by Sir David Skegg - that said elimination was the best strategy at this stage of the pandemic.
"It's a strategy that's worked for us before and has both saved lives and ensured our economy has been stronger than many others," the spokesman said.
"Ultimately we want as many people vaccinated as possible so we can avoid having to use lockdowns in the future. This strategy is in line with the approach being taken in Australia."
The New Zealand Government does not have any vaccination targets, but plans to start a phased re-opening once the vaccination rollout is finished, and there is high enough vaccination coverage in the regions, and among vulnerable people and young adults.
But elimination will still be the goal, which means zero tolerance for any community cases and immediate efforts to stamp out any chains of transmission as soon as they appear.
That is necessary, health experts say, because health systems are poorly resourced to cope with any large outbreak, Delta or otherwise.
How long elimination remains the strategy in New Zealand once the borders start to reopen is an open question. Much will also depend on new technology such as any effective anti-virals.
Morrison said cases would rise in Australia when the borders opened up more with 80 percent of the eligible population vaccinated.
By then, a better metric of success won't be how many community cases there are - and there may well be several hundred - but by hospitalisations and fatalities, against which the vaccines are very effective.
"It doesn't matter if 30 or 800 [cases], the conclusions are the same. We can do this safely, and we do need to do it."
With 80 percent vaccination coverage, he said Covid-19 would be managed like any other infectious disease, such as the flu.
"We don't shut the country down for the flu ... that's what living with Covid looks like."
Earlier today, New Zealand director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said Covid-19 was far more dangerous than the flu.
"It is a far more serious illness - and even in the UK now, with the rates of infection they have with a high vaccination rate, it's the equivalent of around nine or 10 deaths a day in New Zealand.
"When you extrapolate that out, that is still way more than we get annually from influenza."
There are about 500 flu-related deaths in New Zealand each year.
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"that said elimination was the best strategy at this stage of the pandemic.
"It's a strategy that's worked for us before and has both saved lives and ensured our economy has been stronger than many others," the spokesman said", is it?, is it really?. It gets "eliminated" (no virus truly gets eliminated) and we go back to (somewhat) normal and the "virus" strikes again and we once again go back into "lockdown" trying to eliminate it, that strategy is not sustainable in the long term.
Morrison showing his nuanced grasp of the facts as usual. The man has the same scientific capability as Trump.
Oh the ego. Imagine how it would look if we succeeded where Australia failed. Stomp your feet a little more Mr Morrison because we really care what you think.
And news from the mighty USA? the once Great Britton? or China? Is New Zealand looking at elimination when the rest of the world had decided to live with it and get on with life.
One person tests positive (yes I know there are more now), and NZ is in stage 4 lockdown, and that is "living with it?" If only.
Only Sweden is being sensible and 'living with it', while NZ, Australia, Canada and USA go madder by the day.
Our elimination strategy already worked. It was the failure of other countries, including Australia, that ensured covid mutated to the extent that it is now here forever. This pandemic has been a sad indictment of world leadership where we cannot even unite in harmony to save our own lives. All the so called "leading nations" did was embark on egotistic campaigns of stupidity that led us to where we are now with delta.
Has it?, has it really?. How come we still have it in the country?. The old blame everybody else won't work, Dolly did it, no Tarquin did it, no Rodger did it....
Spoken like a true politician that missed the boat. No guts no glory.
Those that say the rest of the world is living with it... check your facts: They are "living" with it (and accepting that many are dying from it) only because they don't have the choice. Listen to people working in the over-run hospitals in the US and UK: NZ has the chance of keeping Covid out and would be crazy not to try that first.
Finally... those that say living with Delta is ok are ignoring the fact we don't know the implications of long-covid yet... and we can't predict what the next variant will be capable of.
My initial reaction to this was thinking of Winston Churchill after the defeat in Europe and the retreat from Dunkirk. He stood strong. No appeasement, no surrender, Fight until the end and never lose sight of the goal, Victory.
I do believe Mr Morrison would have said these same things against him. Throw in the towel, we've made the sacrifice, we have to learn to live with the threat, let's give up, its all to hard.
Hardly fits with the traditional image of Australia, but hey, I guess things get softer as you get older.
Ah Morrison, what a waste of space you are, powered by hot air, Rupert Murdoch and false dichotomies. What an impressive CV you have of watching state premiers attempt to deal with covid whilst you flap your mouth around uselessly. Elimination is a necessary short term strategy until we get as many people vaccinated as we can. In the long term we'll have to live with it, and probably other things like it. What is so hard to comprehend?
With a population of 25 million, vaccination rate of 80% leaves 5 million potential sufferers.
At a 1% infection rate, that's 50,000 cases.
A bit off Mister Morrison's "few hundred cases"