Centrelink has courted fresh controversy by sending "threatening and intimidating" texts to welfare recipients.
The messages alerted recipients to a task force run by the Department of Human Services and Australian Federal Police targeting welfare fraud.
"Taskforce Integrity is in Mirrabooka focusing on welfare fraud. Please remember your responsibility to keep all your details up to date," the SMS read.
Another message from the task force urged recipients to complete and return statements on their relationship status.
The texts were sent to people who had already received letters from Centrelink in July, emblazoned with the Australian Federal Police logo, which attracted widespread scorn.
"The government is deliberately targeting vulnerable people and trying to intimidate them, even though they have done nothing wrong," Greens senator Rachel Siewert said on Wednesday.
"This is the action of an authoritarian government and shows contempt for people, fairness and process."
A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services defended the texts.
"The SMS messages support Taskforce Integrity's objective to educate people about their obligations, and to prompt them to keep their details up-to-date with the department, if they are not already doing so," they said.
Roughly 25,000 texts were sent to Centrelink recipients across Tasmania, Western Australia, Victoria and NSW.
The July letters listed a range of punishments including criminal records and prison sentences for deliberately withholding or providing false information, before encouraging recipients to dob in suspected fraudsters.
The task force was established in 2015 to target specific areas with high risks of non-compliance and welfare fraud.
The controversy follows Centrelink's widely criticised automated debt recovery program, with a Senate committee recently urging the agency to pause the "robo-debt" program until flaws in the system were fixed.
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