Federal Labor will support new laws allowing the personal information of veterans to be released in order to correct the public record.
Labor initially supported the legislation in the lower house but expressed reservations earlier in March after referring Human Services Minister Alan Tudge to federal police to determine whether it was legal to provide a welfare recipient's personal information to a journalist amid the Centrelink debacle.
The federal government insists the legislation will strengthen veterans' privacy, arguing the existing system allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to release all of a veteran's personal information, including medical records, without having to contact the person first.
Under the new laws, only the department secretary has the power to release a veteran's private information and would need to contact the person first and give them an opportunity to respond.
The secretary would only be able to use the information to correct misinformation harmful to the broader veteran community and would not be allowed to use a person's medical details.
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If the secretary fails to comply with the requirements, they would be committing a criminal offence, facing a fine of $10,800.
The rules allowing the release of information will be a disallowable instrument - meaning the Senate can vote to scrap them if senators are unhappy.
Labor's Don Farrell said the opposition had worked with the government to strengthen the rules and work on the rules was still continuing.
"If we are unhappy with the accompanying rules, we will move to disallow them," he told parliament.
