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A brave Gold Coast overcame Brian Kelly's 51st-minute send-off to beat Newcastle 36-26 and take a large step towards avoiding a second NRL wooden spoon in four years.

Centre Kelly was marched for a lifting tackle which dumped Knights winger Dominic Young on his head when the Titans led Sunday's match 30-14.

It was a test of character for the home side from then on and they passed with flying colours against a Knights outfit that rallied late at Cbus Super Stadium.

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook said he "couldn't be prouder" of his men.

"To be down to 12 like that and defend for 30 minutes was great for our fans and our club to see how deep the players are willing to dig," he said.

"Special mention to Tino [Fa'asuamaleaui]. He played 80 minutes. That's fantastic. We are down a man and he stays on the field."

Titans five-eighth AJ Brimson contributed one of his finest games - scoring two tries and setting up two more - in a team performance which would have tantalised Manly playmaker Kieran Foran ahead of his move to the Gold Coast next year.

Brimson and fullback Jayden Campbell turned on a razzle-dazzle clinic to suggest the addition of veteran Foran and Sydney Roosters hooker Sam Verrills will give the Gold Coast a spine to threaten the best of teams.

The win took the Titans to 12 points - two points clear of bottom-placed Wests Tigers on the premiership table.

With a far better for-and-against record than the Tigers, Holbrook's side are now unlikely to finish last again, as they did in 2019 under Garth Brennan.

Campbell, playing with hints of the backyard skills his legendary father Preston would have displayed back in Tingha decades ago, showed vision and class to put David Fifita over with a superb pass, before laying on a grubber kick for Greg Marzhew to score his second.

Not to be outdone, Brimson, who was in everything, also put a slick kick in for Marzhew to score his first try, and produced a cracking pass for a barnstorming Beau Fermor try.

The Titans led 24-10 at the break despite Newcastle showing some promise, mostly through the work of their crafty rake Jayden Brailey, who put Daniel Saifiti over.

The Knights scored first after halftime through Dominic Young, before Brimson sprinted away to score.

Reduced to 12 men, it was Brimson again with a left foot grubberkick, and then another, who gave the Gold Coast a 22-point lead.

"He is just one of those great players. AJ is at the top of his game. He is exceptional wherever he is playing," Holbrook said.

The Titans forwards, led by Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Fermor and Moeaki Fotuaika, were dominant.

Campbell also produced two try-saving tackles before being forced off with an HIA with 15 minutes remaining after a high shot from Adam Clune. The Knights halfback was not penalised, and Titans fans were not happy.

Newcastle centre Dane Gagai scored two cracking tries soon afterwards but the Titans held on.

"Much like our season, and probably our pre-season, it was inconsistent," Knights coach Adam O'Brien said.

"We put up some fight towards the end but there were parts that were really disappointing."

The Knights host the Sharks next Sunday on the traditional Old Boys day and O'Brien said he wanted his side to lift and give home fans a send-off they deserved.

Five-eighth Anthony Milford suffered a rib injury and was unable to finish the game.

Gold Coast unleashed boom back-rower Klese Haas, younger brother of Brisbane prop Payne Haas, for an impressive NRL debut.

The bright spot for the Knights was the class of 19-year-old Krystian Mapapalangi who was outstanding with the ball in hand.

© AAP 2022

New modelling suggests rapid antigen tests can hasten isolation for some confirmed COVID-19 cases as one of Australia's leading infectious disease experts calls for an end to seven-day minimums.

Former chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth says current isolation rules do more harm than good as Australians are increasingly taken out of the workforce.

"Even if there's a small amount of infectivity risk at day six or seven, if you are in a mask and are wearing it like doctors and nurses do, which is properly in a hospital setting, your risk of transmission is really low," Dr Coatsworth told Sky News.

Treasury data shows three million working days were lost in the first six months of this year due to virus illness and an estimated 31,000 workers around the nation were on sick leave each day in June.

Dr Coatsworth says under the circumstances, seven days of isolation is excessive and needs to be scrapped.

New Zealand research meanwhile shows using RATS as part of a "test-to-release" policy would shorten the minimum isolation period for confirmed cases.

"Rapid antigen tests are the best tool we have to tell if people are still infectious, so it is possible to tailor an isolation period to when people are infectious," according to Auckland University's Emily Harvey.

"Some people could leave isolation sooner than seven days, some people will need to isolate for longer."

A two-test-to-release policy would involve a minimum isolation period of five days and a maximum of 10.

Australia reported a further 15 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday along with more than 9000 new virus cases. A total of 86 fatalities and more than 11,000 infections were announced on Saturday.

The country still has over 127,000 active coronavirus cases, with more than 3000 patients in hospital care nationwide.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 4160 cases, five deaths, 1821 in hospital with 45 in ICU

Victoria: 2099 cases, nine deaths, 372 in hospital with 23 in ICU

Queensland: 1125 cases, nil deaths, 288 in hospital with 10 in ICU

WA: 1055 cases, one death, 128 in hospital with six in ICU

ACT: 175 cases, nil deaths, 104 in hospital with three in ICU

SA: 439 cases, nil deaths, 153 in hospital with seven in ICU

Tasmania: 178 cases, nil deaths, 30 in hospital with one in ICU

NT: 63 cases, nil deaths, 14 in hospital with none in ICU

© AAP 2022

The stage has been set ahead of this week's jobs and skills summit, with migration policy, training and industrial relations reforms expected to dominate the two-day gathering.

With wage growth falling well behind skyrocketing inflation, the mechanism used by workers to collectively negotiate better wages and conditions - enterprise bargaining - has come under the microscope.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus will focus on workers' bargaining powers as the government flags potential enterprise bargaining reforms.

The unions are pushing for multi-employer or sector bargaining, which would allow multiple workplaces to make an agreement together.

"Workers' bargaining power has been smashed," she told the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.

"That's why we have a problem, a huge problem, with wages growth and unless we address that issue, that is not going to change.

"It should be simple, it should be fair, to give the workers the bargaining power they need to get pay rises again."

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott says there needed to be a greater focus on driving innovation and productivity to boost wages.

But the head of the peak business body agreed with the ACTU the enterprise bargaining system needed an overhaul to ensure workers were paid more.

"Sally and I are absolutely on a unity ticket that we want people to be paid more and those wage increases sustained," Ms Westacott told the ABC Insiders program.

"When done well, when you look at the data and averages on wages, people on enterprise agreements get substantially more money."

Both peak bodies want to strengthen the 'better-off overall test' and streamline the bargaining process.

"This is the crucial thing. When the parties agree, when they have negotiated in good faith, when they have followed the processes, that the Fair Work Commission doesn't try to re-write and micro-manage that agreement," Ms Westacott said.

"(And we need to) make sure the people who haven't been party to the agreement can't come in later and blow everything up."

Migration policy has also emerged as a key issue ahead of the summit, with the lifting of skilled migration caps floated as a solution to ease labour shortages.

Training domestic workers for the "jobs of the future" is a priority for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, with nurses, chefs, early childhood teachers, construction workers, tech staff and electricians among the professions experiencing dire shortages.

Bolstering the participation of women in the workforce and reducing the gender pay gap will also feature.

The federal Greens have written to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, asking the government to use the summit to promote jobs that will protect and restore the environment.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says key regions and sectors need appropriate investment.

"A strong plan to invest in green jobs would provide a high return on investment while also ensuring the restoration and recovery of critical ecosystems and wildlife," Senator Hanson-Young said.

"Addressing our climate and biodiversity crises can go hand in hand with stimulating jobs and economic growth.

"Protection of land and environment is a jobs rich area, with opportunities for both labour intensive jobs like weed management, infrastructure and revegetation, as well as skilled jobs such as ecological research and monitoring to protect wildlife and build resilience."

While the summit agenda will canvas a variety of issues, Australian National University's Robert Breunig says tax reform is missing from the agenda as a tool to create jobs and incentives for people to work.

He recommends replacing the complicated set of offsets designed to cut tax paid by lower income earners with an earned income tax credit.

Under this system, this group would be paid "negative tax" for every dollar they make until a threshold and then start paying "positive tax".

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will not attend the employment summit this week but Nationals leader David Littleproud plans to sit in to ensure rural and regional interests are represented.

It will be held in Canberra on Thursday and Friday.

© AAP 2022