Introduction: Implementing a Basic Income in Australia

A Basic Income (BI) is a simple idea: a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement (BIEN, What is a basic income? Basic Income Earth Network. https://basicincome.org/basic-income// , 2018). Scholars, activists and politicians are increasingly becoming aware of the radical potential a BI could have to societies around the world: from economic security, fairer wealth distribution, justice and poverty eradication through to degrowth and gender equality (Weeks, The problem with work: Feminism, marxism, antiwork politics, and postwork imaginaries. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011; Ackerman, Alstott, & Van Parijs, 2006; Standing, A precariat charter: From denizens to citizens. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014; Altman, The Howard government’s Northern Territory intervention: Are neo-paternalism and indigenous development compatible? Topical Issue 16/2007, Center for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, the Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2016; Atkinson, The British Journal of Sociology, 65(4): 619–638, 2014; Davala et al., Basic income: A transformative policy for India. London/New York: Bloomsbury, 2015). The idea of a BI is also gaining attention in Australia, and while there has been speculation as to how it could work in Australia, a thorough analysis of pathways forward is missing. Within the pages of this book, we present the works of intellectuals considering issues of BI implementation in Australia.