Australian govt to overhaul cyber laws

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In the wake of the incidents the Labor government, which came to power in May 2022, expressed frustration at the lack of an emergency response function.

O'Neil said on Monday that having the national coordinator in place at the time would have made a significant difference.

"What we will have now is an individual in the public service who is going to coordinate the response across government and make sure that not only are we deterring and preventing cyber-attacks, but Australians can get up off that quickly," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The other really important part of this person's job will be to help manage cyber incidents in a proper, seamless strategic way across the Australian government."

The government hopes to appoint someone to the new role within a month to develop a response plan.