In its general Wage-Setting Decision 2007, the Commission granted a deferral of the 2007 wage increase for farm businesses most severely affected by drought.
The Commission exempted farm businesses in receipt of an Exceptional Circumstances Interest Rate Subsidy (ECIRS) from paying the general wage increase awarded by the Commission in 2007. The deferral applied only to classification minimum wages above the standard Federal Minimum Wage (FMW). It did not apply to the standard FMW itself.
On the first pay period on or after 1 October 2008 all farm businesses are required to pay their employees minimum rates of pay, adjusted for both the Australian Fair Pay Commission’s: