A Zimbabwe-born circus acrobat who appeared on a popular TV talent show knowingly spread HIV by having unprotected sex with a series of women, Australian police said on Tuesday.

Authorities issued a national plea for the women, who number at least 12, to contact police and medical authorities for testing.

The acrobat, Australian citizen Godfrey Zaburoni, 31, was due to face a magistrate on Wednesday.

Health officials said the women were thought to include seven in the northeastern state of Queensland as well as others in neighbouring New South Wales and Victoria.

"Unfortunately he couldn't give enough detail so we could contact those women directly," said Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young.

"Any woman anywhere in the country who has had unprotected sex with this man should go and get themselves tested," she added.

Police said Zaburoni, who has appeared on Australia's Got Talent, was diagnosed with HIV in 1997 and has travelled the country widely as a performer with various troupes.

Police in Queensland, where Zaburoni will make his court appearance, said the state has only recorded one conviction for knowingly transmitting a serious disease.