As a member of “The Five Eyes”, it was only a matter of time before Australia was implicated in the Snowden Documents.  Now, after reports that Oz used its embassies to spy on its neighbors, Indonesia is summoning the Australian ambassador to explain.

Australia collected intelligence about Asia as part of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) global surveillance efforts, according to documents smuggled out of American by Edward Snowden, and published in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel and Fairfax media.  It said the project is called “Stateroom”, and Australia collects intelligence through Embassies and High Commissions in China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, East Timor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port Moresby in PNG.

“They are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned,” said the document, implying that dedicated Aussie diplomats may not even realize what’s going on in the office next door.

Australia is one of the “Five Eyes” countries that share highly classified intelligence and agree not to spy on one another; the other four are the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.