Gender pay equity, wage fixation and work choices : forward to the past

Since the 1970s Australia has been one of the few countries that has progressively advanced the concept of gender pay equity. This achievement has largely been due the centralised, industrial tribunal-based, wage fixing system. The wage rates created by industrial tribunals have been able to improve the pay of women workers, due to their coverage of the workforce of an entire industry within the jurisdiction of the tribunal. State tribunals, in particular, have also been at the forefront of this development due to the adoption of new 'equal remuneration' wage fixing principles, resulting in notable increases in award-based wages for certain industries dominated by women workers. However, the capacity of state tribunals to continue to apply gender-free wage determinations is under threat because of the federal government's 2006 WorkChoices changes to the Australian industrial relations and wage fixation systems.