First policy discussion group of 2023

Basic Income Australia kicked off its first policy discussion group of the year by inviting NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd to present the Universal Wellbeing Payment against the Basic Income Australia policy (recording link), building off my previous comparison blog.

Here are my key takeaways from the discussion and the ensuing question time. 

UBI-led inflation - a bogeyman?

Abigail posed the question of why inflation is constantly raised when speaking of putting money in the hands of the poor, i.e., through a UBI, compared to when wealth is transferred to the rich through various apparatus such as the stage 3 tax cuts. She suggests that our understanding of the inflation model is flawed which is an interesting provocation given reports of this current period’s bout of inflation is the result of corporate profiteering rather than a proportionate increase in operating costs. 

Idea: community-based local currency UBI implementation

A potential project that Abigail would like to spend more time designing is a community-based local-currency UBI initiative - potentially similar to the South Korean UBI and Regional Currency experiment. It would be interesting to see how community groups could partner with MPs like Abigail to get such future initiatives off the ground.

Who will drive the next wave of UBI activism?

The question posed asks which section of society might be the next driver of UBI activism. Will it be artists or the unemployed groups? Abigail responded that it will come down to civil society groups as well as religious groups that take the same moral approach that each person’s needs must be met.

The second part of the progressive economics puzzle

An individual possessing a bank account is one of the key criteria for receiving the proposed Universal Wellbeing Payment. Abigail proposes a NSW public bank to provide an inclusive alternative to the fee-driven private banking system. https://publicbankingnsw.com.au/

What are our speakers’ call to action?

Michael’s call to action is to use every channel of communication now to get the message out.

Abigail’s call to action for the group is to subscribe to the Universal Wellbeing Payment for updates and to speak to three people each about UBI. The call to action for herself after the NSW State election is to reach out to the union movement to discuss the fetishisation of jobs and UBI alternatives. 

Outstanding participant questions to the speakers

For both speakers:

• Given there are so many different implementation plans, which is the closest to your plan you believe would have a negative outcome?
• Given the seismic economic shift that a full UBI would create, could it not be more feasible, both politically and economically to start with incremental changes, such as increasing the amount and removing requirements for Newstart?

For Michael Haines:

• With phasing, could the provision to halt the increases be abused by malicious actors who would seek to tank the system?
• Who is responsible for the payback calculation described in your proposal?

Closing thoughts

Both the Universal Wellbeing Payment (UWP) and the Basic Income Australia (BIA) proposal are remarkably similar across its overall technical design (i.e., the UBI amount and the replacement of Centrelink payments but maintenance of overall government provided services). 

The discussion group rather highlighted these key differences and considerations for driving the UBI narrative:

• A radical and provocative proposal (UWP) vs the incrementalist approach (BIA)
• Inspirational and values-driven messaging (UWP) vs technocratic solutioning (BIA)
• Go fast and be bold (UWP) vs go slow and manage risk (BIA)

I encourage our participants who have ongoing questions to continue to reach out to both speakers directly via the UWP website or through BIA’s various channels.