Australian Greens spokesperson for schools Senator Penny Wright has urged caution over the use of fingerprinting to record attendance at South Australian schools.

Senator Wright said the East Para Primary School community should have been more widely consulted and urged the State Government to conduct broader research and information campaigns before expanding the system.

"Biometric data is still not well understood and it's very natural parents will have concerns about privacy," she said.

In light of the PRISM scandal, the Australian Greens will announce a package of protective measures to address ongoing surveillance overreach today in a trans-Tasman online forum.

"Edward Snowden has revealed that widespread, warrantless and illegal surveillance is occurring,"said Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.

"Initial government and corporation denial has since been exposed as lies, perjury and obfuscation while the surveillance simply continues.

The claim by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus that Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning are not whistleblowers shows Labor’s desperation to justify its attacks on privacy, the Greens said today.

Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the claim by Mr Dreyfus “beggars belief”.

The Greens have called on Telstra to immediately disclose details of a deal, revealed by Crikey today, which was struck 12 years ago to allow the FBI and US Department of Justice to monitor calls and data traffic via the company's undersea cables.

1.30pm - Saturday July 6 Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge.

Speakers include Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam and Electronic Frontiers Australia chair David Cake.

Edward Snowden blew the whistle on an American surveillance program monitoring communications around the world - spying on users of companies including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple.

The Government and Opposition colluded today to block a request for a statement by the Attorney General on implications for Australia of the PRISM surveillance scandal in the US. Labor and the Coalition combined their numbers to block the move.

Revelations from within Australia's intelligence agencies have confirmed the Government is actively complicit in the United States' surveillance of Australian citizens.

"The Australian Government has denied any knowledge of the NSA's widespread online surveillance of people around the world since it was revealed by Edward Snowden. It is now clear that the ‘hear no evil, see no evil' routine is a sham," Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said.

Australian Greens spokesperson for communications Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam today warned against further extending the already excessive online surveillance powers of Australia's intelligence agencies.

How would you feel if your internet service provider (ISP) kept a record of every article you read online, every email you sent or received, all location data collected by your phone, every call you made, everything you bought online?

How would you feel if it was made an offense to refuse to hand over your computer passwords?

Australian Greens spokesperson for communications Senator Scott Ludlam today warned against further extending the loosely defined and already over-reaching online surveillance powers of Australia's intelligence agencies.