Australian Wage Policy: Infancy and Adolescence.

• Author: McCusker, Peter
• Position: Book review

Australian Wage Policy: Infancy and Adolescence

Hancock, K 2013. University of Adelaide Press

In its Foreword, the author reminds us:

Australian society is, nevertheless, a product of its history, and is better understood if we do not lose sight of that history. This study describes a small part of it. It is confined to the period between the inception of conciliation and arbitration and World War II (p. vii). The history described is that of the conciliation and arbitration system and the work of the Arbitration Court which was established in 1904. The book examines the terms of employment declared under Federal Awards. It particularly concerns wage policy, and the Court's performance in an economic, as well as a social, context.

A work of this nature has until now been generally regarded as too great a challenge, too inscrutable a matter to deal with in any comprehensive way, too mysterious in its many parts to give it adhesion or structure. But the challenge has now been brilliantly overcome by one of the very few scholars who could possibly do so, using in all cases primary sources. As such, a great gap in our history has been filled.

Professor Hancock notes that at the beginning of the 20th century in Australia, formal economics was virtually non-existent and the promoters of reform were likely to be 'either a lawyer or a clergyman', little affected by economic doctrine. And at the end of the book, Hancock notes that though the Court remained entirely composed of lawyers it did recognise its own lack of economic expertise and it was keen to listen to the views of economists.

I emphasise two other general aspects of the book. First, Hancock has singularly achieved the historian's objective: to transcend the fragmentation of perspective that is characteristic of the contemporary mind. Hancock now provides the comprehensive overview. Second, the book offers a fascinating glimpse of the Australian nation in the first half of the 20th century, both in terms of statistical material and public attitudes. These features make for a lively book.

Figures taken from the 1901 census of occupations demonstrate that Australia was essentially a farming community, with 30 per cent of the male population engaged in primary industry. That remained the dominant occupation until the Second World War. The Royal Commission of 1920 found, moreover, that in the capital cities we were overwhelmingly house renters rather than house owners, by a factor of 2:1.

The cultural adherences and attitudes espoused by the Judges in their decisions are remarkable. Justice Heydon of the New South Wales Tribunal, dealing with an application to fix the Living Wage in that State in 1916, railed against workers who exerted industrial pressure with 'work to rule' or 'strikes'. They were's a boteurs':

Conscience, country, and God appear to be all alike repugnant to them. The real parents of such doctrines, as stupid as they are abominable, seem to be hatred, envy, fraud, and laziness; feelings directly opposed to the manly and upright instincts which mankind has in all ages admired (p. 109). Better still is the author's quote from the decision of Judge Lukin in the Main Hours Case in 1927:

If we are to retain exclusive possession of this vast continent for ourselves and our posterity, is it not essential that we develop and progress as expeditiously as possible? In order to do this is it not necessary that every Australian citizen should continuously contribute towards this end? Must not Australia develop its industries, primary and secondary, as quickly as possible...