MANDURAH is WA’s welfare capital, new figures from the Australian Taxation Office show.

The 6210 postcode, which stretches from Madora Bay in the north to Wannanup in the south, received more than $15.5 million in welfare allowances, including Newstart payments, in the 2014-15 financial year.

It comes after figures last year revealed Mandurah jobseekers were almost twice as likely as those in Perth to end up on the unemployment scrap heap.

Department of Employment labour force figures show Mandurah’s unemployment rate was 11.5 per cent up to the end of September, almost double the unemployment rate in Perth at 6.3 per cent.

In Perth, the 6061 postcode — which covers Nollamara-Balga-Mirrabooka in the city’s north-east — pocketed the most in Commonwealth payments at $12.3 million.

It was followed by Spearwood-Hilton-Bibra Lake-Kardinya (postcode 6163) in the city’s south at $12.2 million and Piara Waters-Armadale-Bedford (6112) to the south-east at $11.8 million.

It comes after the Federal Government this week announced in its Budget that it would next year trial drug testing of 5000 welfare recipients.

The trial will be carried out at three sites from January, with unemployment hot spots where high levels of illegal drug use are detected in wastewater set to be targeted.

The sites have yet to be selected, but results from the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program earlier this year showed WA had the highest use of methamphetamine in Australia.

In one unnamed country WA town, there was the equivalent of one in 13 people taking ice daily.

Minister for Social Services Christian Porter said the trial locations had yet to be selected, but “everyone in WA knows there is a problem with ice”.

“We will have a good look at some areas in WA for sure,” he told 6PR radio.

Mr Porter said the trial was designed to “help get people into employment” and would test for drugs including meth, cannabis, opiates and ecstasy.

A first positive test would see the drug user forced to use the cashless welfare card, which has been trialled in Kununurra in WA’s far north. The card is designed to stop welfare recipients from using the payments to fund their drug habit.

Play Video According to figures from the ATO people living in the 6210 postcode received more than $15million in welfare payments in the 2014-2015 financial year. According to figures from the ATO people living in the 6210 postcode received more than $15million in welfare payments in the 2014-2015 financial year.

A second positive test would result in a referral to a medical professional for assessment and a treatment plan.

“We are trying to drive behavioural change. That critical period over several months when you are trying to find employment, that can all come apart if you’re using illicit substances like ice,” Mr Porter said.

He said the Turnbull Government’s reform of the welfare system was aiming to “target and break” the high dependency in some areas.

“Generally, we look to target groups of people who show high dependency and intergenerational welfare dependency,” Mr Porter, who is also the Member for Pearce, north of Perth, said.

“Our priority investment approach to welfare identified groups of people most at risk of long-term welfare dependence — namely young parents, young carers and young students.”