Table of Contents
The Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) was established by the Howard government under the controversial WorkChoices legislation. It was heralded by its supporters as a major improvement on the previous system of safety-net wage cases under the Industrial Relations Commission and universally condemned by the union movement and Labor. Others questioned whether a minimum wage was needed at all or even whether it was a major impediment to labour-market adjustment. The AFPC’s first and subsequent decisions were, therefore, looked on with interest by the media, academics, politicians and vested interests. This paper provides a critique of the AFPC’s first decisions and suggests how the process of arriving at a minimum wage could be improved.