Abbott offers Australian spy assurance

Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists Australian government authorities have not broken the law following reports linking the nation to a US spy network.

A leaked US National Security Agency (NSA) document shows that Australian embassies across Asia have acted as surveillance collection facilities for the US, as part of a secret operation codenamed STATEROOM.

Mr Abbott refused to comment on the work of Australia's intelligence organisations but offered guarantees of the government's actions.

"Every Australian governmental agency, every Australian official at home and abroad, operates in accordance with the law and that's the assurance I can give people at home and abroad," the prime minister told reporters on Thursday.

Details of the report leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden were published by a German newspaper, and included that Australian embassies in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili, and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby were bases for STATEROOM, run by the Australian Defence Signals Directorate.

"They are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned," the document says.

Australian embassies along with those belonging to intelligence partners Britain and Canada are reportedly involved in supplying data to the US under the operation.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon wants a review of Australia's data surveillance practices to ensure they serve the national interest.

"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.

The United States has been embarrassed by media leaks from Snowden that the NSA listened in on the communications of dozens of foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.