Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

On 9 August Senator Siewert asked me for figures in relation to the number of people that have incurred an eight-week non-payment period since 1 July 2006. I can inform the Senate that between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007, 15,509 income support recipients incurred an eight-week non-payment period. Senator Siewert also asked for the number of these customers that were identified as Indigenous Australians. Of those customers, 1,644 were identified as Indigenous, and that is a proportion approximately equivalent to the proportion of total job seekers. Finally, Senator Siewert asked about the DEWR workplace.gov.au website and why it was not updated. I have referred this to the appropriate minister.