"More than double the number of Aboriginal Australians are now being breached by Centrelink as a result of Welfare to Work," said Senator Rachel Siewert today.

"When questioned in the Senate this afternoon the new Minister for Human Services, Ian Campbell was obviously unaware of the impact of the breaching regime on Aboriginal Australians," she said.

"It is clearly not on the Government's radar, despite warnings of the potential adverse impact of Welfare to Work on Aboriginal communities."

"Senator Campbell was unable to say what the Government would do to address this growing problem, and raved on about 'mutual obligation' despite the fact that it is Government services who are failing to live up to their side of the deal," she said.

In response to questions asked by Senator Siewert at Senate Estimates, the Government has revealed that during the first three months of the tough new compliance system there was a massive jump in the number of Indigenous Australians who were losing all income support payments for eight weeks.

According to analysis of these figures released by the Welfare Rights Network today, 140 penalties given between 1 July and 29 September 2006 were to Indigenous Australians, as compared to 60 in the previous three months.

"Aboriginal West Australians have been hit particularly hard, receiving 50 of the 170 penalties meted out," said Senator Siewert.

"They are receiving almost a third of the penalties (29%), despite being just over three percent of the population of Western Australia."

"With the Centrelink Indigenous Penalties strategy obviously failing to have any impact and with communities now facing significant cuts to CDEP programs in the near future, it is clear that Welfare to Work is unfairly targeting Aboriginal Australians," she said.

"It is time for a serious review of the way in which Centrelink supports Aboriginal Australians."