Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said on social media platform X that the government was coordinating a response to a “significant cyber incident affecting a number of Australian ports”.

Government officials are working with DP World Australia “to understand the impacts”, she added.

National cyber security coordinator Darren Goldie said on X that the “interruption is likely to continue for a number of days and will impact the movement of goods into and out of the country”.

“DP World Australia has advised it has restricted access to its Australian port operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle while it investigates the incident,” he added.

The Australian cyber security centre, which leads the government’s digital security responses, was advising the port operator and “providing technical advice and assistance”, he said.

The national emergency management agency and national coordination mechanism, which streamlines a crisis response, will meet together tomorrow, Goldie said, adding that federal police have launched an investigation.

Goldie, an air marshal in the Australian air force, was appointed the inaugural national coordinator last July in response to a number of key cyber attacks.

Just over a year ago, more than nine million customers from Optus, one of Australia’s biggest telecommunications providers, had their personal data stolen in a cyber attack.