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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended scrapping pandemic leave payments, laying the blame at the feet of the previous government.

The payments for workers who needed to spend time away from work while they isolated ended on June 30.

However, there have been calls for the payments to be reinstated as COVID case numbers and hospitalisations increase across the country, driven by new, infectious sub-variants.

Mr Albanese, who on Tuesday received his fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose, said he wouldn't bring back the payments due to the need for the government to rein back spending.

The new government had inherited the former's decision to end the payments and $1 trillion of debt, he said.

"They are circumstances which my government faces ... there are a range of things we would like to do, but we intend to be fiscally responsible in how we deal with issues," he told reporters in Sydney.

As case numbers rise across the country, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said hospitals could hold back some elective surgery due to the strain on the system.

He said the emergence of influenza for the first time in three years in Australia was making the situation worse.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the rise in infections still had a long way to go.

Mr Butler indicated COVID-19 cases were not likely to peak nationally for at least four weeks during the third wave of infections.

"All of the modelling indicates that case numbers and hospitalisations have further to go over probably the next four to six weeks," he told Melbourne radio 3AW on Tuesday.

While case numbers have increased and calls have grown for mask mandates to return, the prime minister said he would follow health advice on the issue.

"Mandates on those issues, of course, are a matter for ... state governments around the country," he said.

"We will continue to take advice on these issues by health experts, and we've acted on all the advice that has been given during the pandemic."

But educating the public about the risks of exposure to COVID would be more helpful than reintroducing a mask mandate, epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said.

"If (people) know what the infection risk is ... that's the sort of information that can inform people's choices and might actually translate to better uptake of masks than simply putting rules in place," she told Sky News.

Prof Kelly said the rising number of reinfections had thrown a curve ball for handling the virus.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee has recommended the reinfection period be reduced from 12 weeks to 28 days following the rise of cases of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants.

This means people will be required to get tested and isolate if they redevelop symptoms 28 days after recovering from the virus, and could be reported and managed as new cases.

NSW and Western Australia have already followed suit.

Australia recorded more than 41,000 COVID cases and 58 deaths on Tuesday.

There are nearly 4500 patients in hospital with the virus.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 10,806 cases, 20 deaths, 2049 in hospital with 58 in ICU

Victoria: 10,627 cases, 16 deaths, 737 in hospital with 39 in ICU

Tasmania: 1812 cases, one death, 100 in hospital with two in ICU

Queensland: 6768 cases, 15 deaths, 860 in hospital with 12 in ICU

ACT: 1174 cases, no deaths, 140 in hospital with three in ICU

SA: 3668 cases, three deaths, 246 in hospital with six in ICU

WA: 6000 cases, three deaths, 297 in hospital with six in ICU

NT: 481 cases, no deaths, 39 in hospital with zero in ICU

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Teenage police officers who have recently graduated high school may spend up to 40 per cent of their days dealing with domestic violence incidents, a Queensland inquiry has been told.

A state probe into the police response to domestic and family violence has been focusing on training and recruitment, and on Tuesday it heard evidence of the force's efforts to attract school-leavers.

The state's police service in June lowered the age for aspiring recruits to 17 years, although potential officers will need to wait until they are 18 to begin training.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Mark Kelly said he was unsure how many applicants the Queensland Police Service would get from the school-leaver group, but he agreed providing them with more information about the time they would likely spend dealing with domestic and family violence would be beneficial.

Up to 40 per cent of a police officer's time can be spent on domestic violence-related matters based on earlier evidence at the inquiry, counsel assisting Ruth O'Gorman said.

Acting Inspector Mel Dwyer said the culture within individual police stations had an impact on recruits fresh from the academy.

"The way in which we speak about domestic and family violence in our stations, in our patrol cars, within the meal room where we unpack the day's events with colleagues, can really have such a significant impact on all of us," she told the inquiry.

Rockhampton constable Kate Gersekowski estimated that she attended between two and three domestic violence incidents each day.

Asked whether recruits who likely had limited personal experience with relationships would benefit from further training, Mr Kelly said all police should receive the same preparation.

"We can always train more ... we should train everyone the same way," he said.

The police service was aiming to increase staff numbers by more than 2000 people by 2025, but Mr Kelly said he didn't believe standards would suffer as a result.

"We need to make sure that we're recruiting the best possible people to be police officers," he said.

Judge Deborah Richards is heading the independent commission announced in response to recommendations from the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce.

This week, hearings will examine the capability, capacity and structure of Queensland Police Service's response to domestic and family violence.

The commission is expected to report by October 4.

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"Avo on toast", "parma" and "halal snack pack" have all become part of everyday Australian vernacular and the national dictionary is documenting the country's culinary maturity with a new version.

The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) based at the Australian National University is looking for new contributions from the public with a focus on food-related words and phrases.

ANDC Director and chief editor of the dictionary Dr Amanda Laugesen said as culinary culture changes in Australia, so too does language.

"There are a much wider range of food choices available now - multicultural dishes, street food, ingredients from native plants and animals. We also like our less formal ways of enjoying food, from sausage sizzles to food festivals," she said.

"All of these changes are reflected in the language we use, and we expect that there are many new Australian food-related terms that we have not recorded."

Dr Laugesen said the crowdfunding exercise of appealing to the public will also unearth older, arcane terms that have fallen out of fashion.

"We also welcome contributions that may not be new but you think should be recorded. We've collected some older words that should have gone into the dictionary before, such as honey joy, tank loaf, bushman brownie and smiley fritz to name a few," she said.

The public can share their food terms via the ANDC's Word Box feature or through the its contact page.

© AAP 2022