Newspeak Alert!!!

Today, cabinet meets and approves Kevin Andrews’ new guidelines for the consolidation and further deregulation of the industrial relations systems. The Herald reports that, amongst other attacks Those Who Aren’t With Us, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission will be reduced from Gytrash to toothless hound, in favour of a “Fair Pay Commission”. A system where wages are set, not by a body independent of government and trickledown and Reserve Bank economics, but rather by a panel consisting of Treasury officials and business representatives.

Bleargh! “Fair Pay” indeed. Fair is relative – fair for whom? “Fair” in the same fashion as Eliza Doolittle, a system tarted up to sound and smell appealing but underneath quivering with its own inadequacy. “Fair” for the Business Council of Australia, whose perennial cry that $400 per week after tax is a grossly “unfair” wage for their members to have to pay their employees. The BCA’s recent “Workplace Relations Action Plan for Future Prosperity” calls for the establishment of a board of economic experts to set the minimum wage, because:

Research by Access Economics shows higher minimum wages are associated with higher unemployment. This is important to acknowledge, because while higher minimum wages are seen as a means of enhancing fairness, no amount of increase in the minimum wage will improve the living standards of those unemployed… Research shows that in Australia, unemployment and non-participation in the labour force are the most important predictors of household poverty (2004:16)

In other words: the greedy unions and the AIRC are spoiling for all Australians. So, they say, we have a fabulous economy, 5.1% unemployment, the lowest in ages (although due to an extreme rise in the number of casual and part-time jobs many of those counted as “employed” are desperate for more hours). But still! Unemployment is the fault of those greedy people who chow down on others’ share of the pie, not business with its multi-million dollar bonus payouts to executives, oh no, that’s an appropriate reward for creating jobs, but those unions who want a $13 per week extra for their members – who’ll clearly put it in a poker machine or piss it up a wall! Heaven forfend.

In Canberra-town, Newspeak is saved up on purpose for the workplace relations agenda, probably due to the unpalatable aspect of the proposed reforms. Examples include the More Jobs Better Pay bill in 1999 – reducing AIRC powers - to the Fair Dismissals bill in 2004 – removing the rights of employees of small business to unfair dismissals appeals and redundancy payments. It is this disgusting misrepresentation and misuse of power that should offend – it truly makes the reforms indefensible.