A woman who asked for copies of her father's military records was given a bundle of papers showing he had a sexually transmitted disease and a history of misconduct.
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The incident, which took place last year, has sparked a campaign to stop the Australian Defence Force from handing over its personnel files to the National Archives.
Defence Force Welfare Association national president David Jamison says the incident was a serious breach of privacy that had upset many members.
His association wants the government to prevent the public from accessing military staff's personal details.
''Over the years, people make frank and sometimes unsubstantiated comments about an individual and their performance on HR files,'' he said.
''If this becomes public, it has the potential to impact severely on the person being commented on.''
Government agencies must by law keep personnel files. The National Archives allows access to government records after 30 years, but is in the process of shifting this to 20 years.
However, the archives can suppress documents if disclosing them would ''involve the unreasonable disclosure of information relating to the personal affairs of any person (including a deceased person)''.
Mr Jamison said the incident that triggered his association's campaign - the disclosure of a former ADF member's medical notes - was not isolated.
''Now, I know this bloke and he got up to all sorts of stuff when he was in the military, which was in his disciplinary records,'' he said.
''Making this public can stain a person's character forever. These comments were made in confidence and should have stayed that way.''
A Defence Department spokesman said this morning the disclosure of personal affairs was "a concern" that had been raised with Defence Minister Stephen Smith.
Mr Smith had written to the minister responsible for the Archives Act, Simon Crean, "asking that the National Archives and Defence engage to explore options to better protect the personnel records of both former and serving ADF personnel", the spokesman said.
"These could include options such as consulting with Defence and former ADF personnel on access to their records and consideration of such applications by third parties as 'unreasonable disclosure' in line with contemporary community expectations about personal privacy."
An archives spokeswoman said this afternoon that, before making documents public, the agency engaged "expert examiners to assess whether information constitutes the personal affairs of a person, and if disclosure would be unreasonable".
"In doing so, they consider a range of factors, including the circumstances in which the information was obtained, its age, the extent to which the information is already a matter of public knowledge, the context or authenticity of the information, and relevant case law."
She said it was important to retain copies of military personnel's service files "because of ongoing business needs and to protect the rights and entitlements of the service personnel".
"Service files that relate to action in war have enduring national significance ... These files enrich our knowledge and understanding of Australia’s history, society, culture and people, and document the defence functions and programs which are of significant long-term interest to government, stakeholders and the community."
This reporter is on Twitter: @MarkusMannheim
