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Medibank won't pay any ransom to the hacker that stole all its customer data, after revealing almost 500,000 health claims have been accessed.

Australia's largest health insurer says the names, dates of birth, address, phone numbers and email addresses of its 9.7 million former and current customers have been accessed, along with the Medicare and passport numbers of some customers.

But Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said the hacker probably wouldn't give the data back even if they paid a ransom fee, and forking out could instead give other criminals an incentive to do the same thing.

"Based on the extensive advice we have received from cybercrime experts we believe there is only a limited chance paying a ransom would ensure the return of our customers' data and prevent it from being published," he said.

"In fact, paying could have the opposite effect and encourage the criminal to directly extort our customers, and there is a strong chance that paying puts more people in harm's way by making Australia a bigger target."

The hacker accessed health claims of about 160,000 Medibank customers, about 300,000 claims from offshoot ahm customers, and about 20,000 international customers.

No credit card or banking details were accessed.

The insurer, which continues working with the federal government and other agencies, has also launched an external review into the incident.

"We take seriously our responsibility to safeguard our customers ... the weaponisation of their private information in an effort to extort payment is malicious, and it is an attack on the most vulnerable members of our community," Mr Koczkar said.

"We will continue to support all people who have been impacted by this crime through our Cyber Response Support Program. This includes mental health and wellbeing support, identity protection and financial hardship measures."

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said Medibank's decision not to pay a ransom to cyber criminals was in line with government advice.

"Cyber criminals cheat, lie and steal - paying them only fuels the ransomware business model," she said in a statement.

"They commit to undertaking actions in return for payment, but so often re-victimise companies and individuals.

"I want Australia to be the most cyber-safe country in the world. The payment of ransoms directly undermines that goal."

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Karen Andrews said the data breaches of Medibank customers, along with similar breaches at Optus, demonstrated the government had dropped the ball on cyber security measures.

Ms Andrews urged the government to support a coalition proposal to introduce a standalone offence for cyber extortion.

Under the proposal, those who use ransomware would face a maximum of 10 years in prison, while those targeting critical infrastructure could be sentenced to 25 years behind bars.

The government introduced new laws last month that would increase fines for companies that were involved in data breaches, with the maximum fine raised from $2.2 million to at least $50 million.

© AAP 2022

Almost half of patients taken to Queensland hospital emergency departments faced ambulance ramping of more than 30 minutes, according to the latest health performance data.

Despite patient numbers at emergency departments dropping in the September quarter, wait times barely shifted, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said.

"Queenslanders are waiting for an ambulance to turn up at record levels," he said on Monday.

"Make no mistake, this shows the crisis that is in Queensland Health."

Hospital emergency departments treated more than 550,000 patients in the September quarter, down 12 per cent from the July quarter, the report released on Monday reveals.

"These figures show despite 20,000 fewer people turning up at EDs, the wait times have barely moved, and it remains the worst in the nation at 44 per cent.

"That means that there's nearly a one in two chance of a Queenslander waiting longer than they should at the end of the ramp."

However, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said that despite more than 300,000 staff days lost due to isolation and quarantine since March, there had been encouraging improvement

"There has been improvement in some areas but, as we expected, this data does cover the third wave of COVID where it took until mid-August before we started coming down off those really high staff furloughed numbers and COVID bad numbers," the minister said,

Critically injured Category 1 patients were seen by clinicians within two minutes, and the overall median wait time in the emergency depart meant was 17 minutes, she said.

Almost seven out of 10 patients were treated within clinical wait times, she said.

"To see these improvements in hospital performance during a quarter heavily impacted by COVID and flu is encouraging," Ms D'Ath said.

Meanwhile, the number of people receiving elective surgery in Queensland public hospitals increased by two per cent, with 33,016 procedures carried out.

"This builds on the strong elective surgery performance from the June 2022 quarter, which saw a 40 per cent increase in activity," Ms D'Ath said.

"Almost 90 per cent of the most urgent Category 1 elective surgery patients were seen within clinically recommended times."

© AAP 2022

Liam Hampson has been remembered as a wonderful young man and outstanding footballer who made a positive difference in the lives of all the people he touched.

Hampson, 24, died in tragic circumstances after a fall in a Spanish nightclub three weeks ago, and his life was celebrated at a public service attended by 1000 family members and friends at Moreton Daily Stadium in Redcliffe on Monday.

Hampson played rugby league for the Redcliffe Dolphins and this year was a key figure in the club's surge to the Hostplus Cup grand final.

Gold Coast Titans playmaker AJ Brimson and Brisbane Broncos forward Jordan Riki were pallbearers at Hampson's service. They were together on tour with their close friend in Spain before he died.

Dolphins NRL coach Wayne Bennett and Melbourne Storm winger Xavier Coates were also in attendance.

Hampson's Redcliffe coach Scott Murray remembered Hampson as "a wonderful young man who helped a lot of people".

"I don't how many times I walked into the change room and thought I may have had a tough day but if Liam was in the room everything was OK," Murray told reporters.

"He just had that personality that was able to light everyone up. He was just fun to be around. Everyone enjoyed being in his company."

Hampson had NRL aspirations and the talented hooker was on the cusp of realising his dream.

"He certainly deserved that opportunity the way he was playing for us," Murray said.

"When he came on the field he made a difference. He was a real X-factor for us. He was one of the big reasons why we did so well this year."

Murray said Hampson also made a wonderful impact as a teacher's aide at Redcliffe State High School.

"We have a rugby league excellence program at Redcliffe State High and he was able to mix with 13-year-olds and 18-year-olds," he said.

"He was amazing with the way he was able to connect with the young people and provide support for those who needed it."

Redcliffe Dolphins captain Cameron Cullen said Hampson would "leave a big hole" in the lives of all who knew him.

"He was very loved across our whole club, the playing group and the community," Cullen said.

"The Dolphins are a club with a rich history and his legacy will last here forever."

Murray said the death of Hampson was hard to accept.

"You wake up sometimes and you think, 'Did it really happen?' I don't know whether it has really sunk in for us all," he said.

"We are really going to miss him."

© AAP 2022