AS THE glow of Australia Day celebrations fade, and we get back to our everyday lives, let us not forget that our national identity is bound up in the ideal of a "fair go" and that should mean that the wealth of the nation is shared.

That is, businesses, which profit from government-funded infrastructure and transport used by their businesses; from the sweat of its workers who have the skills through the education they have received and the health services which sustain them; and which are paid for by the taxes from workers and businesses; should in turn be paying decent wages as an demonstration of the fair go.

Present day corporations could learn a lot from US car maker Henry Ford.

In 1914 Ford doubled his workers' wages and said "We increased the buying power of our own people, and they increased the buying power of other people, and so on and on. It is this thought of enlarging buying power by paying high wages and selling at low prices that is behind the prosperity of this country".

Ford's decision was not driven by altruism, but by economics and because he understood the economic case for decent wages.

Presently our government and businesses leaders disregard the fact that when you take money out of the employees' pockets, retail spending suffers.

Underpaid workers can't support a healthy private sector.

Many corporations pay little or no tax while paying executives' enormous salaries.

Workers' salaries are stagnating and penalty rates are being slashed which does little to benefit the economy as the cost of living rises.

Unless you happen to be one of the few at the top, inequality is growing.

Australia is kidding itself that it is really the land of the fair go.

ROBYN DEANE

Bli Bli