Stripping young people of welfare entitlements is not the result of inexperience in Job Network agencies. Young people are having their benefits slashed for failing to adhere to the most minor regulations. About 53 percent of all welfare penalties are imposed on people under the age of 25, including 58 percent of all purely administrative breaches, such as missing an interview. This is because most mutual obligation requirements are targetted at young people. Breaching is particularly high for participants in Work for the Dole schemes.
Homeless people are also acutely vulnerable to breaching.
They often miss mail instructing them to attend an interview. Although the Footprints report devotes considerable space to the problems facing young Aboriginal people in the transition from school to work, it says nothing about the high rate of breaching inflicted on Aboriginal people. Research reveals that administrative breach rates are consistently twice as high for Aboriginal people receiving employment-related payments. Even these limited references proved too sensitive for the government. In parliament, Community Services Minister Larry Anthony claimed that breaching had diminished under the Howard government.