I didn't want a rent and food rise, but equally we don't really want the assessment of quartering and food charges confused with the assessment of pay.
The method of assessing these charges is at least objective; if quarter and food charges hadn't gone up in line with civvy street, it would be a benefit that could be exploited by the government: '"Look we did our brave boys a favour!". It would confuse the real issue which is a pay cut. Also, to compensate for a real-terms pay cut by being generous with charges isn't really fair on those who don't live in etc etc...
What will be interesting is what pay rise the AFPRB recommends several years from now when they are finally able to do so again. Since it relates closely to private sector pay - that is still rising - I would imagine it could be quite sizeable.
That said, getting shafted because Brown couldn't run a piggy bank is still annoying
