Australia’s major political parties have had their computer systems hacked, just three months out from a federal election.

The Liberal, Labor and National parties had their computers compromised a week after it was revealed the parliament house server had been hacked, forcing ministers to change their passwords.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says a foreign power is involved but is refusing to name the country involved.

The government’s Cyber Security Advisor Alistair MacGibbon tells Ross Greenwood “the decision was made to go public pretty quickly”.

“It’s a hard decision to make – I think it’s the right decision.

“As soon as we knew those political parties were potentially compromised… we couldn’t sit and watch that happening.

The only way out was to take quite public action… which would alert the offender to us now knowing.”

Mr MacGibbon says it “could take months or years” to confirm which country is responsible.

Click PLAY below to hear more on how the cyber attacks were discovered