FROM HARVESTER TO DEREGULATION - WAGE-EARNERS IN THE AUSTRALIAN WELFARE-STATE

The significance of the Harvester Judgment in 1907 was not only in the establishment of a 'fair and reasonable' wage, which became known as the basic wage, but also in the principle that wages had to meet at le ast the basic social needs of the worker's family. Income earned throu gh employment was thus regarded as primary welfare. These principles i n wage determination were discarded in the 1960s and the de-regulation policies of the 1980s further increased the division between employme nt and social needs. Exacerbated by the endemic high levels of unemplo yment, the progressive de-regulation of the labour marked since the 19 80s has been one of the most significant causative factors in the grow ing inequality in Australia.