The number of Human Services staff found to be accessing customer data without authorisation has been steadily dropping over the past two years, but has increased slightly this year.
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In the first half of this financial year, seven public servants have been sacked for breaching the APS code of conduct relating to unauthorised access, the same amount who were sacked in the whole 2017-18 year.
In that year two staff pulled the plug themselves before their employers could.
The Department of Human Services includes Centrelink and Medicare services, meaning staff have access to highly sensitive personal information about millions of Australians. But the way those files are accessed is constantly monitored, meaning staff can't delve into the medical and financial histories of others without the department finding out.
"We use a sophisticated and comprehensive detection program to identify unauthorised access to customer records," Department of Human Services spokesman Hank Jongen said.
In general, the number of staff caught accessing customer documents is dropping. In 2016-17, 167 staff were disciplined regarding unauthorised access, making up 0.5 per cent of staff. Of that number, six were sacked, and another three resigned before the department moved to terminate them.
The number dropped to 85 staff in 2017-18, but has already reached 66 in between July and December last year.
Those who didn't lose their jobs didn't escape lightly.
"The remainder received sanctions in line with the seriousness of the breach," Mr Jongen said.
"Other sanctions range from formal reprimands and salary deductions through to reassignment of duties and demotion."
Staff are trained to only access customer records as required by their work. The department emphasises a "zero tolerance" approach to doing so without authorisation.
The consequences are different for the growing number of contractors working for the department though. If caught accessing records without authorisation, their work with the department is terminated straight away.
Since January 29 last year, there have been 13 cases of unauthorised access of files by labour hire staff, which is approximately 0.6 per cent of the labour hire workforce, according to evidence given at Senate estimates.
"Of the 13 cases, 10 of those staff then ceased their assignment with the department as a result of the unauthorised access and the remaining three staff had already ceased their work with the department when we detected their unauthorised access," Human Services secretary Reneè Leon said.
While those people may keep their job with the external company that employs them, there are systems in place to ensure they don't pop up again on Human Services projects.
"Labour-hire companies, of course, are keen to maintain their relationship and their reputation with us, so I would think the incentives would be all the other way for them to ensure that they're providing with us a workforce that meets our needs, not to send us people who we've already reported have behaved inappropriately," Ms Leon said.
