The federal government is seeking new powers to collect and share Australians' personal information to help prevent, detect and investigate fraud or corruption.
Privacy laws, as they stand, restrict the sharing of personal information to non-law enforcement federal agencies.
Legislation put to parliament on Thursday will permit the disclosure of information within the Commonwealth, but only in certain cases.
The government argues the public interest outweighs the potential privacy impacts on affected individuals.
"Fraud and corruption have an impact beyond financial loss, including on service delivery, government integrity and public safety," the bill's explanatory notes say.
Information can be shared if there are compelling indications of an actual or suspected fraud that affects the commonwealth, but there are limits on who has authority to do so and when.
Sensitive information may be collected if required for fraud or corruption investigations.
For example, health information might be needed if investigating a commonwealth official for falsely claiming personal leave.
A person's membership of a trade or association might also be sought if investigating someone doing work for the commonwealth who falsely claimed a professional qualification.
The proposal is among a suite of changes to criminal laws introduced in the lower house.
The bill includes doubling the maximum jail term for "general dishonesty" offences to 10 years, and strengthening protections for vulnerable witnesses and complainants in commonwealth criminal proceedings.
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