Greens call for inquiry into ASIO blueprint theft

The Australian Greens are calling for a formal inquiry into the allegations that Chinese hackers stole blueprints to a new $630 million ASIO building in Canberra.

Communications spokesperson for the party, Senator Scott Ludlam, said the allegations "should be dealt with in a rational manner".

"The issue here isn't cyber-panic or the Beijing bogeyman, but the organisational accountability of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the degree to which a whole host of subcontractors observed information security precautions," Ludlam said.

The call by the Greens came a day after shadow Attorney-General George Brandis speculated that any problems or shortfalls at ASIO were the result of inadequate resourcing.

Brandis pledged that a Coalition Government "would certainly seek to arrest that degradation of capacity," the Australian newspaper reports.

Ludlam said resourcing did not appear to be an issue, particularly as the ASIO building was already over-budget.

"This requires an inquiry, not the kind of reflexive demands for more resourcing called for by the Opposition," he said.

The Australian also stated that the alleged incident with ASIO blueprints may be several years old, giving the security agency enough time to alter building plans to limit the potential for system compromises.

The stolen blueprints had included details of the building's security systems, communications networks and server room locations.