Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has called for a review of Australia's data surveillance practices after the nation was linked to US spying revelations.
Reports emerged on Thursday that Australian embassies across Asia have acted as surveillance collection facilities as part of an operation codenamed STATEROOM and linked to the US, also involving Canada and Britain.
"There's a difference between genuine national security - keeping a country safe - and using it for other purposes, and that's why we need to have a debate in this country," Senator Xenophon told Sky News on Thursday.
He said questions about domestic surveillance asked of former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr had gone unanswered and he remained concerned about the impact of such data collection, which he feared could impinge on rights including free speech.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has declined to comment on the latest revelations, the details of which were contained in a secret US National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden and published by Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper.
