Australian Fair Pay Commission
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The Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) is an Australian legislative body created under the Howard Government's "WorkChoices" industrial relations law in 2006 to set the minimum rate of pay for workers. Established to replace the wage setting functions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the AFPC will set and periodically adjust a single adult minimum wage, non-adult minimum wages (such as training wage), minimum wages for award classification levels and casual loadings.
Australia has a comparatively high minimum wage of A$12.75, being 58% of the median wage, compared to 45% in Britain and 34% in the USA.
Professor Ian Harper is the inaugural chairman of the AFPC, presiding over 4 commissioners. In a speech to the Centre for Independent Studies titled "Christian Morality and Market Capitalism: Friends or Foes", Harper stated "The market is a means to an end rather than an end in itself" and "The trouble starts when one begins to treat market capitalism itself as a religion".
The profile of the members of this commission will be different from that of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission which previously had responsibility for determining the above quantities. There will be less representation on behalf of the trade unions and more of an emphasis on business concerns. Critics argue that the board lacks independence and scope and that it will reduce the benefits of workers, while supporters believe that it stimulate the economy and in turn improve working conditions. The first decision of the commission is not expected to be made until spring 2006, and as a result the actual effect of the decisions of the commission is unknown at this time.
Australian trade union reaction
Australian trade unions view the FPC as a neo-conservative business-friendly organisation that threatens the basic rights, pay and entitlements of Australian workers. Further, they argue that the FPC will benefit business at the expense of workers. Unions mockingly call the AFPC the Australian Low Pay Commission. Unions view the IRC as independent and wish to keep it as the minimum wage setting body. ACTU's Greg Combet expressed his concern about Professor Harper's ability in an interview with Radio National's Mark Colvin. [Interview with Greg Combet] - PM, ABC Radio National, 13 October , 2005
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