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The Large Hadron Collider has restarted after a three-year revamp, with experts hoping the biggest research machine ever built will now go even faster in a bid to unspin the secrets of the universe.

Two proton beams were pushed through the collider's 27-kilometre tunnel on Friday for the first time since December 2018 and circulated as planned in opposite directions, Joachim Mnich, director of research at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), said.

He could only follow events under the French-Swiss border from home because of a coronavirus infection.

"That's why there is no champagne at my place," the German told DPA.

"But I'm sure it was different in the control room of the particle accelerator."

It takes six to eight weeks for the LHC to reach full speed and only then can proton collisions take place again.

The collider accelerates subatomic particles to nearly the speed of light and smashes them together with the aim of clarifying the theory of the Big Bang, believed to be the moment the universe sprang to life 14 billion years ago.

In 2012, the collider showed that the mysterious Higgs boson particle is likely to exist.

The particle is believed to be responsible for all mass in the universe.

The Higgs boson, nicknamed the "God particle," was the missing piece in the standard model of physics which describes how nature's smallest building blocks interact but could not previously explain why they have mass.

The three-year maintenance means the collider is now expected to run smoothly for the next four years.

"By the end of 2025, we hope to double the number of collisions since the particle accelerator went into operation," Mnich said.

The accelerator has already had two phases of operation: from 2009 to 2012 and from 2015 to 2018.

Mnich said about 1,000,000,000,000,000 - a quadrillion - collisions should be possible each year.

But only one in perhaps 100,000 collisions brings to light processes worthy of closer analysis.

The data is stored within milliseconds but the analysis often takes years.

This was the case at the US particle physics research centre Fermilab, which came up with a sensation at the beginning of April.

Physicists there recalculated the W boson, which transmits one of the four fundamental forces that determine the behaviour of matter in the universe.

The researchers determined with high precision that it is heavier than the standard model of particle physics predicts.

"We can only congratulate our colleagues at Fermilab," Mnich said.

The W boson had been discovered at CERN in 1983.

He expects the US measurements will be confirmed or rejected at CERN in the next four years.

"If the result is true, this could be an indication of an unknown force of nature, or an indication of additional particles that we don't know about yet," he said.

© DPA 2022

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has tested positive to COVID-19 after one of his children was recently hospitalised with the virus.

According to a statement from the premier's office on Friday evening, "the child is fully vaccinated but was in a serious condition as a result of the infection".

"The child remains in hospital and is receiving ongoing treatment," the statement said.

Mr McGowan had initially returned a negative test after becoming a close contact.

In a statement, the premier said he had taken another PCR test on Thursday and it had come back positive.

"It is not surprising considering one of my family members is positive," he said on Friday.

"In accordance with the protocols, this will extend my quarantine period until I am hopefully cleared to leave home next Thursday afternoon, at the earliest.

"I will continue to quarantine and work from home over this period."

The premier is scheduled to attend federal Labor's election campaign launch in Perth on May 1.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese also tested positive to the virus this week.

Mr McGowan did not provide any details on his condition but thanked staff at testing clinics.

"I would also like to acknowledge the vital contribution of our committed health workers who have not only cared for my family, but also the many Western Australians who have been affected by this virus," he said.

WA last week moved to the national definition for close contacts, requiring only household members and intimate partners to isolate.

Strict proof of vaccination and mask-wearing requirements remain in place.

© AAP 2022

Anthony Albanese has vowed to be back on the election campaign trail soon as he completed his first day in COVID-19 isolation.

While the Labor leader concedes he has had "better days", he says he is not worried about spending a week out of action while he recovers from COVID-19.

"We were getting momentum, but I'll be back for the second half," he told ABC TV on Friday.

"This is a long campaign, and if I was going to get COVID, it is better to have got it now than in the last three weeks of the campaign."

Mr Albanese said he hoped to be back campaigning in person in time for Labor's campaign launch in Perth on May 1.

He said he was optimistic about the campaign going forward, despite the virus setback.

"I've had better days but a lot of people have had it a lot worse," he said.

"I'm one of the many millions of people who' ve gone through this, and I'm just taking the health advice."

Labor frontbenchers have played an expanded role while the opposition leader is in isolation, with campaign spokesman Jason Clare saying Mr Albanese's diagnosis provided an opportunity for Labor to showcase its united team before polling day.

"We're not a one-man band. We're a strong united team," Mr Clare told reporters in Sydney.

"I see this as an opportunity ... because not only have we got a better plan, we've got a better team."

Mr Clare joined Labor finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher in Australia's most marginal seat of Macquarie, west of Sydney.

The seat, held by Labor's Susan Templeman on a 0.2 per cent margin, covers the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury and has been devastated by recent floods.

Ms Templeman told AAP the flood recovery has been overlooked because of the election campaign, with farmers losing acres of their productive land from the most recent disaster.

"Primary producers have a very long way ahead of them and the way the (disaster) funding is structured just doesn't get them where they need to go," she said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigned in southern Queensland, unveiling a $428 million upgrade to four defence force air bases in Ipswich alongside his defence minister.

Mr Morrison has been seeking to talk up the coalition's national security credentials and argue better economic management means more can be spent on defence.

Foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong, who was in Perth where Mr Albanese was due to be on Friday before having to go into COVID isolation, said the coalition had dropped the national security ball when it comes to the Solomon Islands.

"Warning after warning, signpost after signpost, when it comes to the Solomon Islands, has not been properly acted upon," she said.

Mr Morrison said the handling of the situation followed "very careful advice".

"I can't go into any more details about that, but I can assure you these are complex issues and they have to be dealt with in a very calibrated way," he said.

"We don't engage in the same way (China) do in the region. The suggestion the Australian government in any way contributed to this arrangement being put in place is absolutely false."

Defence Minister Peter Dutton used the announcement to attack Mr Marles and Labor's attitude towards China.

"We do know there's a period of uncertainty and we do know our country needs to stand up for our values, we need to invest in the defences of our country and Richard Marles has essentially abandoned that principle."

Mr Marles called Mr Dutton's remarks and suggestions Labor is weak on China "an outrageous slur".

"We all get the threat that China represents to Australia. There is no disagreement about that," he told the Nine Network.

© AAP 2022