Ben Spies-Butcher said the pandemic offered an opportunity to study how a universal basic income could work.Credit:Fiona Morris
“The pandemic,and particularly the government support package responding to it,have stimulated interest and created a wealth of data on what steps towards a basic income approach might look like,” said lab co-director Ben Spies-Butcher from Macquarie University.
This week Anglicare became the first major charity in Australia to call for a state-funded basic income.
Anglicare said a “guaranteed basic income above the poverty line” was now necessary to offset growing employment insecurity as the labour force changes.
“Whether it is achieved through a universal payment or a guaranteed adequate income for every Australian over the poverty line,it is clear that such a scheme would tackle poverty and income insecurity across Australia,”a report by Anglicare said.
An Ipsos survey of a representative sample of 1000 adults,commissioned by Anglicare,found three in four Australians (77 per cent) back an unconditional basic income above the poverty line.
A similar YouGov poll conducted for the Green Institute last year found only 58 per cent of surveyed Australians supported the introduction of a UBI.