Howard role in pay freeze

The Age 9 July

A senior Labor minister has blamed the Howard government's policies for the Fair Pay Commission's decision to freeze the wages of up to 1.3 million low-paid workers and said there would be "greater justice" next time round.

Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science Greg Combet, a former ACTU secretary, yesterday mounted the most vigorous Government attack on the commission.

"It is the last decision from the Fair Pay Commission," he said. "It was a construct of the Howard government's WorkChoices, and this is I guess an epitaph of WorkChoices - a freeze on minimum wages for the most vulnerable people in the workforce."

Mr Combet said under Labor's Fair Work Australia - which replaces the Fair Pay Commission next year - he anticipated the wage-fixing process would be a proper and transparent review of minimum wages resulting in "greater justice for low-paid people".