Abstract
This chapter explores a “stepping stones” approach to Basic Income in the Australian context. It identifies two policy changes that would mark a partial shift away from Australia’s highly means-tested transfer system towards a more universal model of income support.
Specifically, we propose a combination of unwinding means-testing for the age pension and gradually lowering the eligibility age with a Youth Basic Income paid to those aged 20–24 based on a modified negative income tax model.
We argue together these proposals allow for an alternative to the neoliberal politics of population ageing, addressing emerging intergenerational inequalities in Australia’s current dualised model.
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Notes
- 1.
The lower age bound was largely chosen for data reasons, and the upper bound reflects, we believe, a logical transition point.
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Spies-Butcher, B., Henderson, T. (2019). Stepping Stones to an Australian Basic Income. In: Klein, E., Mays, J., Dunlop, T. (eds) Implementing a Basic Income in Australia. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14378-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14378-7_9
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