Governments around the world have surveillance programs similar to PRISM but they have not been as effective as in the United States, Julian Assange has said in an address to Sydney University.

The WikiLeaks founder delivered the keynote address to close the 19th International Symposium on Electronic Art on Thursday night via video link from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

In a wide-ranging speech he covered military surveillance, the WikiLeaks party and Google's relationship with the US government.

"Edward Snowden revealed something that I've been speaking about for a long time, providing clear concrete proof that the internet has penetrated every aspect of society, right along with it is mass surveillance," he said.

"Right along with it is mass surveillance - mass surveillance by the National Security Agency of the US, working in co-operation with its partners and other countries trying to do the same thing, although not nearly as effectively."

Assange also said he had met with Google chairman Eric Schmidt and his girlfriend Lisa Shields, a communications vice-president at the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as one of Hillary Clinton's advisers.

He then revealed when he was trying to get in touch with Clinton two months ago for legal reasons, it was Shields who rang the person acting as his PA to verify the call.

He said the Google chairman's girlfriend ringing on behalf of the former secretary of state showed how close Google was with the US government.

Assange also revealed his party's policies were formed during discussions with select advisers and happened "very quickly", although he was looking to a more collaborative approach after Australia's federal election.

"We're a young party and we're, what, 93 days away from an election? So the answer is very quickly," he said when asked how policies were developed.

He said WikiLeaks campaigners and people with legal backgrounds were among the key group.

"As time goes on we want to rule out new technologies to be able to draw on the many ideas and proposals from our leadership base," he said.

"A party's leadership can only be as good as the ideas that are brought on."

Earlier in the speech Assange said the world was no longer divided into those who had access to the internet and those who did not.

"This week's revelations have proven [the internet] … is very far from a civilian place," he said. "The internet is being transformed into a military-occupied state."

Communications between husbands and wives, business partners and even the bureaucracy and the government are all under surveillance, according to Assange.

"We have a soldier under our bed listening to everything a husband and wife say to each other when they are communicating on email or SMS," he said.