AAP

Public servants and journalists should not be treated as spies under proposed government laws, Labor said yesterday.

Opposition home affairs spokesman John aulkner said it would be overkill if the Federal Government put up legislation that meted out jail terms to public servants who leaked embarrassing information or to the journalists who received it.

The Government is to introduce legislation that will increase jail terms for spies to up to 25 years.

But it also contains provisions for jail terms for public servants who issue information without authorisation from the relevant minister.

The jail terms of up to two years would also cover journalists and even Opposition MPs.

Senator Faulkner said he had no problems with the increased jail terms for spies, but there were serious flaws with the proposals targeted at public servants and journalists. "The principle here is an absolutely clear one, we don't want to see public servants and journalists treated as spies," he said.

"We'll be careful to ensure the legislation does not have the consequence, intended or otherwise, of increasing current penalties for whistleblowers for communicating information which does not prejudice national security or for that matter for those who receive the information from them."

Senator Faulkner said the proposed legislation was obviously flawed if it wound back the already limited protection afforded to whistleblowers.

"We think the Commonwealth Parliament ought to be smart enough to write laws that differentiate between spies who are acting against national interest and our national security on the one hand, and whistleblowers in the other who may well act in the national interest."