Only two people over five years have been charged using the anti-whistleblowing section of the Crimes Act the federal government is using to pursue Save the Children staff, according to the Australian Federal Police.

Section 70 of the Crimes Act is being used by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison against 10 staff from the aid organisation on Nauru accused of communicating privileged information to non-Commonwealth workers.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has referred the case against Save the Children staff to the AFP. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

He has referred the matter to the AFP for investigation.

Yet in the past five years, only two people have been charged with the rarely used section of the Crimes Act, of whom one was imprisoned. They were both charged with the offence of disclosing information, the AFP told Fairfax Media.