A savings device that provides enough for all? What a super idea!

Private superannuation can never accommodate all the potential needs of people as they go through life. Older migrants and refugees coming from countries without portable income support systems will not have adequate retirement income coverage. Many Indigenous Australians with private superannuation cover may not live long enough to access their superannuation. The average age of death for Indigenous males is 56 as compared with 77 for non-Indigenous male Australians and Indigenous women die on average at 63 and non-Indigenous women at 82 years: “approximately three-quarters (74.5 per cent) of Indigenous males and two-thirds (64.6 per cent) of Indigenous females deaths were before the age of 65 years”.

There is an income-support system that could provide for every permanent resident’s essential income support needs and that is a universal Basic Income (Word file, 135KB). It would be paid to individuals irrespective of their income, assets or social relationships. Many social security applicants are refused assistance because the government assumes that family members are automatically dependent upon other, better-off, family members. A Basic Income makes no such presumption about dependency. It would be an equal payment to all over the age of 16 years; a proportion of the adult rate would be paid to those under 16 years who are living with their family.

Why don’t we do it?

Firstly, it would require a major policy change; secondly, many argue that we can’t afford it; thirdly, they and others argue that (if such a scheme existed) workers would leave work in droves and fourthly, were Australia to move in such a direction the Howard government would not be able to enforce its “mutual obligation” policies.

It is true that if a Basic Income were introduced no-one could be forced, by a lack of income, to engage in compulsory activities. There needs to be a major debate in Australia before citizens will want the government to provide for everyone not just the “worthy” who receive social security.

The economics involved to pay for a universal Basic Income would necessitate a substantial shift of income from the affluent to less well off but such changes do not constitute an insurmountable obstacle. There are sufficient funds; they just need to be distributed in a more egalitarian manner.

The Henderson Poverty Inquiry suggested a similar program for Australia in 1975; the Irish Government considers that Basic Income is economically feasible for that country (Healy and Reynolds 2002). Economic historian, Keith Rankin, has shown how such schemes could be afforded in New Zealand. Alaska has had a partial Basic Income for 20 years (Goldsmith 2002). None of the research done in Australia or elsewhere supports the view that there would be a large-scale exodus from the workforce. Indeed, some research suggests the exact opposite.