Centrelink revealed it had been tracking staff in the year-long project to identify inappropriate access to customer records which led to the sacking of 19 staff and the resignation of some other staff.

During this time there were 580 incidents of inappropriate browsing of the agency's records.

Centrelink Chief Executive Officer Jeff Whalan said a further five cases have been referred to the Australian Federal Police or the Department of Public Prosecutions.

General searches by Centrelink staff included unauthorized searches for welfare cheats and as a result of the surveillance, 19 staff have been sacked, 92 resigned when accused of privacy breaches, more than 300 faced salary deductions and fines, a further 46 staff were reprimanded with some others demoted or issued with a warning.

Whalan did not apologize for the tough stance taken last week, but pointed out that the agency has 25,000 staff so only 2 percent behaved inappropriately.