Basic Income as a Policy Option for Australia

This thesis examines Basic Income as a Policy Option for Australia and concludes that phased implementation of an affluence-tested BI scheme would benefit Australia. Chapter 1 historicises four ‘moments’ in the history of BI and advances some tentative explanations for the failure to convert BI proposals into concrete policy reform. Chapter 2 develops a normative framework for this policy option through a sustained critical engagement with the literature on the ethics of BI, including the seminal contributions of Philippe Van Parijs. It argues that BI can be justified on the basis of Van Parijs’ (1997) principle of ‘real freedom for all’, together with the concept of total social productivity (TSP), and a deep form of social reciprocity. Chapter 3 applies this set of normative criteria to the specific case of Australia. Chapter 4 examines the issue of the fiscal cost of BI in advanced countries, focusing on liberal welfare capitalist states. Chapter 5 evaluates the pros and cons of different financing mechanisms for BI, concluding that some combination of progressive taxation and public deficits offers the best way forward for Australia. Chapter 6 interrogates the relationship between BI and wellbeing. It concludes that BI has some potential to enhance wellbeing. Chapter 7 examines the effects of BI on paid work, concluding that modest BI schemes are unlikely to threaten aggregate labour supply. Chapter 8 addresses the under-theorised terrain of the interrelationship of BI, economic growth and inflation. The complexity of macroeconomic relationships admits only tentative conclusions in this chapter. Chapter 9 explores opportunities and implementation pathways for shifting social assistance in Australia towards a more universal and less conditional model. Chapter 10 canvasses a range of political strategies that might be deployed in order to achieve BI policy implementation in Australia.