Politics in the Pub: Guaranteed! Jobs or Income!
(This is the full recording with all tracks.)
Is a guaranteed or universal "basic income" - a form of social security where each citizen has an entitlement to enough income to pay for basic needs - a viable way of sharing collectively generated wealth?
Past Australian governments addressed income inequality with policies of "full employment" - not permitting unemployment rates to exceed 2%. These policies were abandoned in the mid 1970s with the start of neoliberalism.
Blue Mountains Unions & Community have invited two experts to discuss the pros & cons of "Basic Income".
How could basic income work? Can we overcome a cultural desire to make people "pay", even suffer, for any support they receive as our Government demonises Centrelink recipients as "leaners" and "fraudsters"? Would it be more effective to ensure that Australians are not unemployed or underemployed?
Speakers are Dr John Tomlinson, a long time campaigner for Universal Basic Income who has written extensively on the topic and who was a driving force behind the BIGA website (Basic Income Guarantee Australia) where articles and records of UBI can be found
http://www.basicincome.qut.edu.au/
and
Dr Victor Quirk, a Research Associate and the Centre of Full Employment & Equity (CofFEE), advocating a policy of a Jobs Guarantee.
http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/job_guarantee/JobGuarantee.cfm
There's also audience participation with a Q&A session.
MC D Smith, Secretary, Blue Mountains Unions & Community
(Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc).
*Previously advertised speaker Dr Jennifer Mays of QUT sent her apologies.
