Over 512,000 Australians are already in occupations with high observed exposure to AI automation. The question is whether Australia acts before the damage is done — or after.
COAD in 60secs.
These figures are drawn from peer-reviewed research and authoritative Australian and international sources.
These are on-record public statements, cross-checked against primary source material. These are not fringe opinions — they are the views of the world's most authoritative voices on AI.
In the next one to five years, AI could potentially wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs. There is a scenario where we get a kind of AI-driven unemployment that is sudden and quite steep.
We're going to see AI having the capabilities to replace many, many jobs. I think it will replace most of the jobs that involve sitting at a desk. I think it's very hard to stop this happening.
AI is a tsunami that is building in the global economy. On average 40% of jobs are touched by AI — either enhanced or scrapped, or changed quite significantly. We need to prepare now or we will be overwhelmed.
The next 15 years will be hell — economically. We are going to have to find a way to keep billions of people engaged and financially supported when their jobs are taken. We have to start planning for that now.
We are 12 to 18 months away from AI that can perform at human level on a very wide range of knowledge tasks. The labour market implications of that are profound and will not be gradual.
If we simply adopt AI in the most direct, profit-maximising way, we could end up with up to 80% of existing jobs automated within 20 to 30 years. This is not science fiction — it is the logical conclusion of the technology we are already deploying.
These forecasters don't all share the same incentives.
Who profits from the prediction? We've mapped the commercial interests behind every major AI forecast →The difference is not whether AI automation happens. In both scenarios it does. The difference is who benefits from the productivity it creates.
The Citizens of Australia Dividend (COAD) is a fully costed, evidence-based Sovereign Wealth Fund — modelled on proven mechanisms like Alaska's Permanent Fund and Norway's Government Pension Fund — that ensures a structured portion of AI's productivity gains flows back to the Australians displaced by it.
COAD is funded by Australia's existing national wealth and AI productivity gains — not by raising income taxes on ordinary Australians.
Payments go only to workers who have lost their jobs to AI automation and are actively seeking work or retraining. Strong built-in work incentives ensure employment always pays more.
Payments start at $20,000/year in 2027 and rise to $35,000/year by 2041 — as AI displacement accelerates, so does the support.
Developed by a volunteer team using peer-reviewed methodology. The model has a $90 billion annual capacity by 2041 — $14 billion above projected demand.
UBI pays everyone regardless of employment status. COAD pays only AI-displaced workers while they transition. Working always pays significantly more than COAD — the model is explicitly designed to preserve strong work incentives.
Workplace AI governance is advancing — but it stops at the factory gate. COAD is the post-displacement income pillar that existing measures cannot provide.
The NSW Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Act 2026 governs how AI may be deployed in workplaces — protecting workers still in employment. It does not provide income for workers after displacement.
A national tripartite forum (government, unions and employers) is examining AI's workforce impacts. A union-backed think tank has called for mandatory AI consultation in workplaces. These instruments govern AI inside the workplace. None provides income after displacement.
COAD does not compete with workplace AI governance. It completes it. When in-workplace protections fail to prevent displacement, COAD provides the structured income support that allows workers to retrain and re-enter the workforce with dignity.
COAD tracks five macroeconomic indicators over a 20-year horizon to model what AI automation does to an economy — and how a citizen dividend changes the outcome.
Each funding source has direct international precedent. No single source bears an unsustainable burden.
The COAD Policy Calculator lets you stress-test every assumption. Adjust AI displacement rates, payment levels, Future Fund returns, and each funding pillar — and see in real time whether the model holds.
COAD is a volunteer initiative. We have no commercial interest, no funding, and no lobby group behind us. We are ordinary Australians who believe this matters — and we have been working to make governments listen.
The Australian Government's National AI Plan (2025) acknowledges workforce transition under Action 5, with $47M in graduate programs and 150,000 AI course enrolments. These are starting points — but the Plan has four critical gaps:
The Plan does not name or quantify which occupational groups face the greatest risk — making it impossible to measure whether investment is reaching those who need it most.
Reskilling pathways are necessary but insufficient. Workers displaced mid-career need income support while they navigate occupational change.
The Plan sets no measurable targets for the number of Australians to be retrained, nor timelines linked to the actual pace of AI adoption.
No monitoring framework linked to actual AI exposure data — despite the Anthropic Economic Index and similar datasets now making this possible.
AI is disrupting entry points to careers before it shows up in mass redundancy statistics. The 14% slowdown in youth hiring into exposed roles is the earliest measurable signal. By the time aggregate unemployment rises significantly, the policy window to prevent the worst outcomes will have closed.
In November 2024, the Government confirmed the Future Fund will not be drawn down until at least 2032–33, and issued a new mandate directing it toward national priorities — energy, housing, and infrastructure. Treasury projects the Fund will reach ~$380B by 2032–33. The Government itself described this as laying "the foundation for the Fund to become an enduring sovereign wealth fund for Australia."
This directly validates COAD's Pillar 1 design — corpus preserved, only returns deployed — and signals that sovereign wealth thinking at the federal level is no longer hypothetical.
Read the full policy validation →Every claim on this site is drawn from peer-reviewed research, multilateral institutions, or on-record public statements by named authorities. Nothing is speculative.
The window to act is open — but it won't stay open forever. Here is what you can do right now.
Ask them directly: does the Government have a plan for the Australians whose jobs AI is displacing? A constituent question is harder to ignore than a submission.
A short, personal email from a constituent carries real weight. Ask whether the Government is considering a Sovereign Wealth Fund or equivalent mechanism for AI-displaced workers.
Share coad.life with friends, family, colleagues, union representatives, and local business owners. Awareness is the first step to political pressure.
Questions, media enquiries, or want to get involved?
greg@coad.lifeGreg Hoskin — COAD Initiative, Maroochydore QLD