Commuters in NSW, Queensland South Australia will no longer legally have to wear masks on public transport, even as Victoria ramps up compliance on its networks.

The NSW and Queensland governments announced on Tuesday their mask mandates would be dumped – a day after the SA government made the same move.

“That means the staff and patrons on public transport will no longer be required under a public health directive to be wearing masks,” Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.

The Queensland changes apply from midnight Tuesday, while NSW’s take effect on Wednesday. SA rules applied from Tuesday.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Tuesday it was a common sense approach bringing the rules into line for people travelling on buses, trains, rideshares, taxis and planes.

NSW Health continues to recommend people wear masks when they cannot physically distance and in settings where there are vulnerable people.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said his government was determined to relax restrictions as soon as it was safe to do so.

“We think this is another practical step going forward,” Mr Malinauskas said.

In Victoria, where more than 100 commuters were slapped with fines and 181,000 were warned as part of a September crackdown, Premier Daniel Andrews hinted his state might soon follow.

Mr Andrews dropped a clear hint on Tuesday about likely changes, when he said Victorian authorities had “at all times sought to be nationally constant” on pandemic rules.

“We take a look at these issues each single day,” he said.

But there was no immediate announcement for Victorians.

Under the state’s remaining pandemic orders, public transport passengers must wear a fitted face mask covering their nose and mouth unless they have a valid exemption.

The penalty for not wearing a mask is $100. A government spokes said the focus remained on “educating Victorians rather than handing out fines”.

“[That] is why we’ve given out almost 160,000 masks to passengers on public transport,” they said.

“Public transport operators are continuing to ensure mask compliance and additional masks have been made available to customers travelling on our public transport network.”

Recorded announcements in Victoria reminding public transport passengers to use a mask have played on trains, buses and trams since December 2020.

Western Australia scrapped mask mandates for public transport on September 9.

-with AAP