The Australian Federal Police used national security laws to access the metadata of journalists nearly 60 times in just one year, according to a new disclosure that will be used to pressure the Morrison government to strengthen press freedom.

As Labor demanded answers over revelations the AFP asked Qantas to hand over the private travel records of a senior ABC journalist, documents submitted to a review of Australia's mandatory data retention regime have for the first time revealed the extent to which police have examined the communications history of reporters.

The 2015 laws, which force telcos to store their customer's detailed phone and internet records for two years, also require government agencies to obtain a warrant before accessing data that risks identifying a journalist's source.

The whole process is conducted in secret and anyone who reports the existence of a warrant faces two years in jail.