Federal Parliament's internal security cameras have been used to monitor contacts between political staffers, bureaucrats and journalists, according to former parliamentary staff.

Fairfax Media has confirmed that Australian Federal Police investigators hunting leakers of government information have accessed images and information from the Parliament's closed circuit television cameras located throughout the building, including the corridors of the press gallery.

Clerk of the Senate, Dr Rosemary Laing. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In one instance during the former Rudd government, Parliament House security cameras were used to monitor the movements of a Labor staffer suspected of leaking cabinet secrets to a prominent journalist.

According to former Department of Parliamentary Services staff, CCTV cameras were used to monitor the staffer's visits to the press gallery as well as contact between the staffer, who worked for a cabinet minister, and the journalist in other parts of the building, including the cafeteria. Surveillance extended to monitoring the journalist's movements while he worked at Parliament on weekends and at night.