Most vulnerable are worst affected by welfare payment suspensions, government data reveals

Tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness, living with disabilities or who are Indigenous are being disproportionately affected by welfare payment suspensions under the mutual obligation regime, government data shows.

The data, reported to federal parliament by the employment department, comes as a separate study by the charity Anglicare suggests most jobseekers believe mutual obligation is doing little to help them find work.

To keep their payments, jobseekers must attend appointments with privatised employment service providers and log their efforts to apply for as many as 20 jobs a month.

The system had been paused for much of the pandemic but restarted across the country last month.

While the government argues the system ensures people are serious about finding work, advocates argue the system is punitive, does little to help jobseekers find employment and some businesses have complained it leaves them wading through unsuitable applications.

The system is also filled with complaints that payments can be stopped erroneously due to mistakes from employer service providers.

It shows more than 56.4% of the 64,123 jobseekers who have been flagged as having experienced homeless have had their payments suspended in the six months to September.