This was the beginning of wage standards in Australia. These days, the minimum wage is a hot political topic, with seemingly perpetual campaigns to have it increased. Inflation is an inevitability after all, so policy makers need to ensure wages keep up as the cost of living increases. At the moment, as we'll get to, Australia actually has one of the highest minimum wages in the world.
For some people though, this still isn't enough. A sizeable proportion of Australians live in poverty, by the definition of the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), and there's many who feel our minimum wage needs to be lifted in order to be a true 'living wage'. As automation and AI tools like ChatGPT become more sophisticated, there's also growing concern about how society will adjust should the coming decades see robots and computerised systems putting more and more people out of work. Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a proposed payment that all citizens would receive, without a means test or the obligation to be looking for work. It's a relatively new idea endorsed by the likes of Elon Musk, and would supplant the existing welfare system.
So do we have a living wage in Australia at the moment, and is UBI a realistic idea? This article will explore both.
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