Rental properties now sit on the market for just 19 days, according to a national report highlighting the intense pressure house-hunting tenants are under.

The PropTrack report said rental stock had hit its lowest level in almost two decades, as rents continue to soar because of high demand which is predicted to escalate further.

Foreign workers and international students flowing back into the country after pandemic restrictions lifted have added even more heat to the red-hot rental market.

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Rents grew at the fastest pace on record in the September quarter, the report said, rising 4.3 per cent.

There have been concerns from some experts that stretched tenants are close to hitting their financial limit, after months of rising rental costs.

Those kind of fears have led to the Greens to call for a two-year rent freeze to try and curb the crisis.

Data in the report indicated there is no relief in sight for tenants.

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New mortgage approvals and lending to investors were both down, the report said.

The lack of investor action is resulting in fewer investment properties being purchased, which is exacerbating the supply pinch.

"With fewer investors purchasing homes to rent out, the limited supply of stock, coupled with strong demand, is leading to heightened increases in advertised rental prices," PropTrack's Cameron Kusher said.

The report said the number of properties on the REA Group website is at its lowest level since 2003, as homes are snapped up quicker than ever before.

The median number of days a property was listed for rent on the site in September was 19 days, the report said.

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Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are all suffering serious declines in the number of available rental homes, compared to this time last year.

"The growth and tightness in the rental market appears to be shifting from regional areas back to the capital cities," Kusher said.

The shift was driven by the return of people who migrated regionally during the pandemic back to capital cities and the lift in overseas migration, he said.

"This is especially the case in our two biggest rental markets, Sydney and Melbourne.

"Most overseas migrants to Australia settle in these cities with few purchasing a property before arrival, which is likely to keep demand for rentals heightened."

Kusher warned supply in Australia's two most populous cities will likely continue to recede, pushing prices higher.

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A Western Australian mother is warning parents to be on alert after her toddler survived a bite from one of the world's deadliest snakes.

Arlo Kohn had been playing in the family backyard on Sunday when he showed his mum two small puncture wounds above his ankle.

There was no reptile in sight but Tirsha Craven's older son had seen a snake a few days earlier so she wasn't taking any chances.

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"He asked me to take his shoe off because he said 'oh, mummy my foot's sore' … ,"she said.

"His foot was like a balloon and it was like really had and hot to the touch.

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"And then I looked closer and there was two little fang marks and I was like 'oh, we're in trouble'."

By the time Arlo had made the 35-kilometre journey from York, about an hour and 20 minutes east of Perth, to Northam Regional Hospital, the two-year-old had gone limp.

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An hour later, venom tests revealed he'd been bitten by one of Australia's most deadly snakes.

"His blood levels have showed like, deterioration of the muscles and affecting the kidneys, from where the venom's flushing through," she told 9News.

Just two hours after the bite, Arlo was treated with black snake antivenom, used to save bite victims from species including tiger snakes and western browns, which are the most common in WA's Wheatbelt region.

The family was told it was most likely the western brown, one the world's deadliest.

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Experts said if his mum hadn't taken such quick action, the outcome could've been very different.

As we head into the worst season for snake bites, health authorities say the most important steps are calling triple zero immediately, applying pressure to the wound and not washing the bitten area.

As all Medibank customers, including ahm and international, had their personal data exposed to hackers, an expert says the health insurance giant should pay the ransom.

Professor Richard Buckland said with all the sensitive medical data compromised in the cyber attack, it might be better to pay the ransom.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but it might be one of those cases where it might be better if the ransom was paid," Buckland said.

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The insurer's response to the cyber attack will cost anything up to $35 million but potential lawsuits and penalties could blow the figure out.

It comes as Medibank revealed this morning all four million of its customer's personal and sensitive health data has been accessed by hackers.

"Our investigation has now established that the criminal had access to all ahm customers' personal data and significant amounts of health claims data; all international student customers' personal data and significant amounts of health claims data; all Medibank customers' personal data and significant amounts of health claims data," Medibank said in a statement.

"As a result, we expect that the number of affected customers could grow substantially."

Medibank said its IT systems had not been encrypted by ransomware yet, and customers could continue to access health services.

Support for affected customers includes individual "hardship packages" for customers left in a "uniquely vulnerable" decision, free identity monitoring for customers who have had their identity compromised, and free re-issues of compromised documents.

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Yesterday, Cyber Security Minister Clare O'Neil said the damage from the hack was "potentially irreparable."

"Australians who are struggling with mental health conditions, drug and alcohol addiction, with diseases that carry some shame or embarrassment, they are entitled to keep that information private and confidential," she said.

"For a cybercriminal to hang this over the heads of Australians is a dog act. It is scum of the earth, lowest of the low territory."

The AFP is continuing to investigate the incident.

Meanwhile, Optus, who was also the subject of a major cyber attack where the data of 2.1 million customers was compromised, has told its customers how successful it was against hackers.

A gloating message read "we went public early… we engaged with government quickly… we listened, we learned and we responded in real time".

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Australians living with obesity experience "weight stigma" in almost all social settings and are often "dehumanised and stereotyped as lazy", a new paper has found.

Led by Australian researchers, the paper found more needed to be done to address the "injustice" faced by people living with obesity in schools, workplaces, healthcare and their personal lives.

Weight stigma is a feeling that Melbourne woman Rachel Bacon has felt since she was younger.

The 41-year-old recently lost more than 20 kilograms after feeling stigmatised for her size for decades.

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"Anytime I went to the GP in my teens, in my adult years, it's just been something that comes up at every turn, 'you need to lose weight, you need to lose weight'," Bacon said.

"It's only been the last few years that I've figured that my self-esteem is not actually linked to what my body looks like."

Monash University's School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Paper Co-Author Dr Briony Hill said during healthcare consultations people can often feel judged and shamed.

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Hill said friends, family, colleagues and patients deserve respect, regardless of body size.

"It's not simply a matter of energy-in, energy-out. What we can do is change the way we think about people living in a larger body and stop blaming them," she said.

"Addressing personal biases against people living in larger bodies, whether known or unknown, is the collective responsibility of society and not just limited to those providing healthcare."

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Curtin University School of Population Health and Lead Author Dr Blake Lawrence said people were constantly bombarded with messages that health is tied to weight, with slim considered healthy and people with higher weight deemed unhealthy.

"The simplistic misconception that obesity is caused solely by factors within a person's control has the unintended consequence of exacerbating their health issues," he said.

(This is done) by lowering their motivation to exercise, increasing their chances of binge eating and forcing them to avoid healthcare altogether due to weight stigma."

Lawrence said the paper recommended public health researchers engage with people living with obesity and promote weight-inclusive policies and new public health campaigns to help change the public perception of obesity and weight stigma.

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Tributes are pouring in for a young man who died after an explosion at a Queensland truck dealership.

Twenty-one-year-old Kyah McDonald was left with burns to 90 per cent of his body at the Gold Coast Isuzu dealership in Arundel on Tuesday morning.

Firefighters who arrived on scene at about 8am said an inferno broke out.

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McDonald was taken to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital but died overnight.

Tributes have poured in for the young man across the community.

Many have offered their condolences to the young man's family and described the situation as "heartbreaking".

McDonald's sister, Holly, took to social media to remember her "caring, loving and kind" younger brother.

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old man sustained burns to his face, torso and arm, while a 33-year-old man suffered burns to his hands.

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