Australia's elections chief has warned the threat from cyber attacks before the federal election is "not solvable" and more needs to be done to prevent them.
Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers delivered the warning at a Washington DC conference dealing with the growing threat to democracy from hackers.
Mr Rogers, who will oversee the election due in the first half of 2019, said the Australian Electoral Commission's computer systems were very old and in the process of being replaced.
"Our IT systems use a computer language that was developed before I left college," he said.
"I think there's two organisations still using it - us and a prison in the former East German republic, I think, are about it."
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He said a landmark "cyber health check" of the state and federal electoral systems would be presented to the next Council of Australian Governments meeting in December.
"It will have recommendations - we've asked for an ongoing focus from COAG on cyber security," he said.
A meeting of electoral commissions was also planned for London next week to look at global best practice in cyber security.
"There are some individuals who think we are just going to solve cyber security - it is not solvable," Mr Rogers said.
"We have to make sure it is not just an emerging threat - that we are treating it as actually business as usual, it is part of what we do."
