Britain's former top spy has accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of doing a disservice to his own mission to increase transparency and accountability.

Speaking in Brisbane, the former director-general of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, says Mr Assange's "naive" leaking of sensitive documents will only make governments more secretive.

"Contributing to less rather than more openness and less information than ever available for the public about what's being done in their name," she told an international conference of archivists.

She says WikiLeaks is driving those in power to protect information in more complex ways, with governments increasingly conducting official business through text messages, emails and unrecorded discussions.

"We had what's been called 'sofa government' of deciding significant matters of public policy, even matters of whether or not to go to war, between very few close advisers sitting on sofas with no formal minute-taking, thus again avoiding accountability," she said.

"All this is a very long way away from the beautifully written minute books recording the decisions of 19th and 20th-century administrators."

Dame Stella also says it is the US government's fault that top secret documents and diplomatic cables were obtained by WikiLeaks.

She says governments need to make a clear distinction between what to keep secret and what to reveal to the public.

In the case of WikiLeaks, she says sensitive documents were included with other information accessible by many people, including Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking the information to WikiLeaks.

"One can criticise the US for having a so-called secret database which was apparently available extensively... including to a young soldier if the reports are true," she said.

'Indiscriminate leaking'

But she also criticised Mr Assange for leaking the documents, saying his approach had put lives at risk.

"What is not tolerated or healthy, in my opinion, is the indiscriminate pouring out into the public domain of streams of leaked documents by Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks organisation," she said.

Dame Stella says the "self-publicising" Mr Assange is most likely enjoying the media attention he is receiving from inside Ecuador's embassy in London, where he is holed up attempting to avoid extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes.

"I think my government, anyway, will be playing a waiting game to see what happens."

Ecuador's president Rafael Correa has offered asylum to Mr Assange but British authorities remain determined to extradite him to Sweden.

Mr Assange fears he will be sent from Sweden to the US, where he could face treason charges over WikiLeaks's activities.

ABC/AAP