One of Australia's leading criminal barristers says it is reasonably clear the human services minister or one of his staff may have broken the law by revealing the personal details of a Centrelink client.
Robert Richter QC believes the offence could be punishable by up to two years behind bars if proved in court.
But Human Services Minister Alan Tudge has dismissed the advice, saying the disclosure was cleared by his department's chief lawyer and was necessary to correct the record.
Mr Richter was commissioned by federal Labor to provide advice on whether releasing the tax and relationship information of a writer critical of Centrelink's debt recovery system broke laws.
READ THESE STORIES TOO
Minister slams Centrelink debt recovery detractors, $24m of $300m collected
In his opinion, it was "reasonably clear that either the minister of one of his office's staff has committed an offence" by sharing the information with journalists.
"We cannot presently put it higher without knowing precisely the content of the information that was disclosed and by whom it was disclosed," Mr Richter wrote.
Labor human services spokeswoman Linda Burney said the advice was damning.
"The prime minister needs to seriously consider whether Minister Tudge can remain in his position," she said.
If the minister had legal advice which authorised the release of the information, he should make it public, Ms Burney said.
Mr Tudge swatted away Mr Richter's advice.
"Labor's lawyer provided an opinion without knowledge of what information was disclosed. He has admitted this," he said on Monday.
"Whereas, I received clearance to release the information from the chief legal counsel of the Department of Human Services, who is intimately across the details of the case and the relevant laws."
Mr Tudge blasted Labor's hypocrisy on the issue, saying the opposition had spent months parading private details of people with Centrelink debts in the media without knowing if the information was true.
"Labor would like to be able to spread lies about government agencies and give no opportunity for the government to correct the record," he said.
