Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton publicly censured his senior officials for cutting border patrols to save money despite a day earlier waving through the department's far-ranging plans to dramatically slash spending.

Mr Dutton also signed off on the internal budget measures, including sacking contractors and casual staff, after being warned the changes would affect the performance of the department and the Australian Border Force, documents obtained under freedom of information laws show.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton waved through the drastic savings measures. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Late on December 11 last year, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed that the Border Force planned to save money on fuel by pulling ships from ocean patrols.

The report was prompted by a leaked Border Force email informing staff that "operational limitations" would be imposed to achieve a saving in the annual fuel budget and "ships will cease active patrolling to achieve this fuel saving".