Mister Speaker

I have run a small business in the Macarthur electorate for over 30 years. My employees were all women with young families, and I know how much they and their families depended on their take-home pay, and how much difference what was a small amount of money could make to their lifestyles, including their ability to service their mortgages and allow their children to take part in sport.

Last Thursday's Fair Work Commission decision brings to a head a 30-year period of conflict over the issue of penalty rates. Over 700,000 workers will suffer a large pay cut of up to $80 a week—perhaps even more. The decision was made by an expert and rightly independent panel, but it is one with which I profoundly disagree.

The Fair Work Commission decision affects us all. It will make home affordability, family lifestyles and children's lives profoundly different. It affects us all on so many levels. It will flow on, undoubtedly, to other lowly-paid workers. It is a further entrenchment of the slow but steady polarisation of our society.

Australians have every right to expect that the parliament will discharge its role in protecting the common good. It is open to the government to ask the Fair Work Commission to stay its decision.

Over a full life, most of us will experience many workplaces and follow many callings. We deserve fairness and we deserve fair pay.