Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ruled out government funding for free rapid coronavirus tests.

Morrison said on Monday that the federal government cannot afford to continue spending on preventing the spread of COVID-19 at the same rate it did in 2020 and 2021.

"We've invested hundreds of billions of dollars getting Australia through this crisis," he told Seven Network television.

"But we're now in a stage of the pandemic, where you can't just make everything free because when someone tells you they want to make something free, someone's always going to pay for it and it's going to be you."