A majority of Australians would welcome a universal basic income, survey finds

<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-11/survey-says-most-australians-welcome-universal-basic-income/12970924>

"Nearly two-thirds of Australians say they would support the
introduction of a universal basic income (UBI), according to a new poll.

Key points:

* 58 per cent of Australians support a universal basic income
* The COVID lockdowns may have increased sympathy for UBI
* A large number of Australians would spend more time with family and
friends, and doing physical activities, if they received UBI

The finding comes after millions of Australians were forced to rely on
some kind of regular welfare payment this year to survive the COVID
recession.

According to Stanford University's Basic Income Lab, at its core, a UBI
is a cash payment given to all members of a community on a regular basis
(for example every month) regardless of income level and with no strings
attached.

More than 3.6 million workers received JobKeeper payments between March
and September (totalling nearly $70 billion), and 1.5 million were still
receiving the payments after the program was revised in October.

The number of Australians receiving JobSeeker unemployment payments
almost doubled this year, jumping from 724,000 in February to 1.46
million in May, and by October that figure had only retraced a little to
1.35 million."

Via Tim Hollo at The Green Institute.

Cheers,
        *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics