Australia Appoints Fair Work Minimum Wage Panel

The Minister for Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, has today announced the three specialist members of Fair Work Australia’s Minimum Wage Panel.

Under the Rudd Government’s new workplace relations system, Fair Work, the Minimum Wage Panel will set and adjust minimum wages including minimum wages in modern awards and casual loadings.

The Minimum Wage Panel will be made up of the three specialist members together with four other members of Fair Work Australia, including the President.

The three new appointments to Fair Work Australia’s Minimum Wage Panel are Mr Peter Dwyer, Professor Sue Richardson and Mr John Vines.

As promised, the Minimum Wage Panel will hand down its first minimum wage review decision in time for it to be implemented for the first pay period on or after 1 July 2010.

The decision will set the minimum wages of all employees within the national Fair Work system. As at August 2008, 16.5 per cent of employees were paid the exact award rate.

In its determination, the Minimum Wage Panel will consider the performance and competitiveness of the national economy including productivity, business competitiveness and viability, inflation and employment growth. The Panel will also be able to commission and publish economic and social research to inform its decision making.

The panel will also take into account:

• promoting social inclusion through increased workforce participation, relative living standards and the needs of the low-paid;

• the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value; and

• providing a comprehensive range of fair minimum wages for junior employees, employees to whom training arrangements apply and employees with a disability.

Appointments to the Minimum Wage Panel will be part-time and appointees have expertise in one or more of workplace relations, economics, social policy, and business, industry or commerce.

Mr Dwyer is a former General Manager of Human Resources at Amcor Fibre Packaging. His previous roles include General Manager of Human Resources at Corrugated Fibre Packaging Division and Group Human Resources Manager at Smorgon Consolidated Industries and Ajax Nettlefolds. His Ministerial appointments include Chairman of the Victorian Printing Industry Training Board and Member of the Standards and Curriculum Council (ANTA).

Professor Richardson is Director of the National Institute of Labour Studies at Flinders University. Her key appointments include Reader, School of Economics, University of Adelaide; Associate Commissioner of the Industry Commission; Member of the Council and Finance Committee, University of Adelaide; Director, Enterprise Investments Ltd; Director, Flinders Technologies; and Director, The Pipeline Authority.

Mr Vines is Chair of Innovation and Business at Skills Australia. He also serves in member/non-executive director positions with a number of companies. He was a Member of the ACTU Executive (1994-2008), Industrial Officer and CEO for the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers (1981-2008), and Industrial Officer with the Victorian Teachers Union and the Federation of College Academics.

Topics: Australia, business, competitiveness, economic development, economic recovery, economic research, Economy, employment, employment growth, Fair Work, Fair Work Australia, Governance, inflation, jobs, Minimum Wage Panel, productivity, Rudd Government, social research, viability

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