"In the absence of such assurances to the contrary, of course we must assume that such activities are taking place": Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. Photo: Andrew Meares

Indonesia has ramped up its reaction to revelations that Australia was systematically spying from its embassy in Jakarta, demanding an end to spying and apparently threatening in response to stem the flow of intelligence about people smuggling.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who was stung by the revelations in Fairfax Media last week, has also vowed to co-sponsor an anti-spying resolution at the United Nations.Asked what action Dr Natalegawa would take against Australia, he said that if there was no "explicit assurances" that spying would stop, it would threaten Indonesia's role as a partner in other areas.

"I was looking at the Indonesia-Australia [partnership], the various agreements the two countries have committed themselves to," Dr Natalegawa said.

Julie Bishop: Her explanations have not pleased the Inodnesians.

Julie Bishop: Her explanations have not pleased the Indonesians. Photo: Reuters

"We have to review our co-operation, our information exchange with the two countries concerned, both the US and Australia, because if they did gather information out of the official framework, the question is what is the use of the official framework. This is something we need to carefully think about and we have explained to them that we cannot accept this kind of thing and we demand that it won't be repeated in the future.

"One of them obviously is the agreement to exchange information, exchange even intelligence information, in fact, to address the issue of people smuggling ...  to disrupt terrorism, etc. Now these information flows have been rather effective, have been rather important. We need to look at that.''  

He was speaking in the context of his dissatisfaction with explanations given to him personally by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, and to his department by Australian ambassador Greg Moriarty, in meetings last Friday, and from the Americans earlier in the week.

''The kind of response that we've been obtaining or receiving is the more generic response that neither the government of Australia nor the United States is able to confirm or deny the practices reported in the various media,'' Dr Natalegawa said.

''In the absence of such assurances to the contrary, of course we must assume that such activities are taking place.''

It is a significant step up in response from Dr Natalegawa, who, sharing a conference podium with Ms Bishop in Perth last week, said the spying was ''not cricket''.

Back in Jakarta on Monday, he has called for a ''strong commitment'' by Australia and the United States that ''they would not engage in any activity inconsistent with the friendly relations between our two countries''.

At the weekend, Germany and Brazil announced they would ask the United Nations to adopt a draft resolution to end  excessive electronic surveillance, saying illegally collecting personal data ''constitutes a highly intrusive act''.

Dr Natalegawa said Indonesia was ''joining Germany and Brazil in co-sponsoring in the UN General Assembly [a discussion] to address precisely this kind of issue''.

Dr Natalegawa reiterated that spying had the potential to undermine trust and confidence between countries.