Basic income and the financial challenges of everyday life

Public Discussion: Basic income and the financial challenges of everyday life

Date: Wednesday 3rd July 2024, 5pm - 6pm

Venue: Room X101 NuSpace (in Newcastle city, near public transport) and online audience via zoom

Emma Hansma from Basic Income Australia will present their work on basic income and how this could provide a just and sustainable alternative to conditional forms of welfare provision for young people. With discussants with expertise in youth, creative industries and the arts, and the future of work, this public event will facilitate important conversations about alternatives to the intensifying financial violence of everyday life.

Chair: Ben Matthews

Emma Hansma: Eliminating Poverty with a Universal Basic Income in Australia: A Leap Towards Equality

Basic Income Australia invites you to explore the transformative power of Universal Basic Income (UBI) in eradicating poverty and fostering equality across Australia. This presentation will guide you through the organization's objectives, the political and societal nuances of adopting UBI, and its advantages in comparison to the existing welfare system. Focusing on the dynamic nature of today's employment and its effects on younger generations, alongside UBI's potential to revolutionize the arts sector, we aim to illuminate how UBI can serve as a foundation for a more inclusive and prosperous society.

Emma Hansma has been a co-director of Basic Income Australia since February 2023. Basic Income Australia is a grassroots organisation of volunteers dedicated to working towards the goal of making a Basic Income a reality in Australia.

Discussants:

Why can’t artists get the dole? Ben Spies-Butcher

What is so special about artists? Rachel Jacobs

What hope for decent working futures? Josh Healy

Why can’t young people afford housing? Julia Cook

How does gender intensify financial inequalities? Julia Coffey

Who benefits? Steven Threadgold

Discussant Biographies

Rachael Jacobs is a Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University whose research focuses on arts education for racial justice, climate action and creative justice . She facilitates arts projects in community settings, mostly working with migrant and refugee communities. Rachael is a community activist, aerial artist, South Asian choreographer and runs an intercultural dance company.

Josh Healy is Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations in the Newcastle Business School at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is a leading researcher and commentator on the future of work and workplaces, with recent studies on technological disruption, work in the gig economy, experiences of younger and older workers, and the living wage movement. Josh is a member of the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre, an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Future of Employment and Skills Centre at the University of Adelaide, an Associate Editor of Labour and Industry: A journal of the social and economic relations of work, and an Editorial Board member for Journal of Industrial Relations and Research in the Sociology of Work (Emerald).

Dr Julia Cook is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her research interests include the sociology of youth, housing and money. She is a current ARC DECRA Fellow (2022-2025), and a chief investigator on the current phase of the ARC-funded Life Patterns longitudinal research program (2021-2026). She is Director of Engagement at the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre and co-editor in chief of Journal of Applied Youth Studies. She is an ABC Top 5 (Humanities) scholar and is a regular media commentator.

Julia Coffey is Associate Professor in Sociology at University of Newcastle, Australia. Her research focuses on youth and gender, with particular interests in feminism, embodiment and body work practices; and how embodiment and identity is mediated in digital technologies and environments. Julia is the Deputy Director of the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre, and on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Youth Studies, Qualitative Research and Journal of Applied Youth Studies. Her latest book is Everyday Embodiment: Rethinking Youth Body Image (2021, Palgrave Macmillan).

Steven Threadgold is Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Newcastle, Australia. His research focuses on youth and class, with particular interests in unequal and alternative work and career trajectories; underground and independent creative scenes; cultural formations of taste, and financial practices. Steve is the Director of the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre. His latest book is Bourdieu and Affect: Towards a Theory of Affective Affinities (2020, Bristol University Press). Youth, Class and Everyday Struggles won the 2020 Raewyn Connell Prize for best first book in Australian sociology.