It is argued that Australia's relatively uniform and consistent academic salary structure and personnel policies should be more flexible and competitive in order to alleviate current problems of academic labor market stagnation, uneven faculty distribution, and other results of financial stringency. (MSE)

The trend in Australia toward a broader scope of collective bargaining implies that college faculty bargaining may extend to aging and pensions, tenure, leaves of absence, conditions of fixed-term appointments, criteria for promotion and dismissal, staffing redundancy, and other issues. (MSE)

A comparison of Australian and United Kingdom faculty salaries takes into account academic rank, salary scales, relative prices and purchasing power, and tax rates. Although Australian academics at the bottom lecturer ranks have a real salary 64 percent higher than their counterparts in the U.K., professors have the same real salary. (MSE)

The history of Australian policy making to promote consistency in academic salaries since the 1960s is chronicled, and establishment of a permanent, national review mechanism is outlined. The roles of several professional and political groups and the effects on institutional autonomy are noted. (MSE)