SYDNEY — Australia’s ambassador met with Indonesian government officials who summoned him today (Nov 1) following reports the Australian Embassy in Jakarta is a hub for Washington’s secret electronic data collection program.

A document from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, published this week by German magazine Der Spiegel, describes a signals intelligence program called “Stateroom” in which US, British, Australian and Canadian embassies house surveillance equipment to collect electronic communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an intelligence-sharing agreement known as “Five Eyes.”

The Australian embassy in Jakarta was listed as one of the embassies involved in a report from Australia’s Fairfax media, along with Australian embassies in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Mr Des Ball, a top Australian intelligence expert, told The Associated Press he had personally seen covert antennas in five of the embassies named in the report.

Indonesia’s government dubbed such actions “a serious breach of diplomatic norms and ethics” and summoned Australian Ambassador Greg Moriarty to a meeting with the Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General Budi Bowoleksono today.

“From my perspective it was a good meeting and now I have to go and report directly to my government,” Mr Moriarty said afterward.

The reports sparked an outcry from governments across Asia, with officials calling on the U.S. and its allies to explain themselves. The embassy spying allegations follow other reports that the US has spied on the telephone communications of as many as 35 foreign leaders.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said today the allegations were deeply concerning and unacceptable.

“Countries may have capacities, technical capacities, to intercept and to carry out the activity that’s been reported, and information may have been gathered,” he told reporters in Perth, Australia, where he is attending a conference. “But the cost - in terms of trust, in terms of the damage - that may be resulting, is something that we must all reflect on.”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said only that the government had not broken any laws. AP