There's nothing wrong with the "Working Families" banner so long as the ALP introduces discrete initiatives that take the unfair pressure off ordinary working people.

For instance, raising the Medicare Surcharge threshold does this. The losers will be the health insurance industry in the first instance, which will pass on its costs to those who have health insurance, who will in turn probably whinge mightily to the Government, which will force it to undertake a root and branch redistribution of the cost burden so that it is more equitable across the board. After the full cycle is passed through, the original unfair tax imposition will have been spread out across the whole of society. This is a (convoluted) example of helping working families.

Do the people with tiny minds think they could find something of substance to whine about?

Let's see now. Disabled pensioners are being left permanently on the scrap heap, but wait. About 100,000 Burmese have been killed in a cyclone. Can't talk about that can we?

Students are paying enormous HECS fees while our universities are being clogged up with foreign students paying enormous fees. Hang on. 10,000 Chinese killed in one village in their worst earthquake for 30 years. Can't talk about that can we? Oops. Forgot. The Chinese have been this months "enemies".

OK then, about 29,000 kids under 5 die of starvation die every day, can we discuss that maybe and try and force a new government to boost our aid budget?

No? We have to whine about two words as if the world will come to an end if they are used.

I heard an interview with George Megalogenis about his second version of "The Longest Decade" and the genesis of the term. It seems families didn't like to be called battlers, or middle class, or lower class.

It seems they took a small measure of pride in being working families.

So can the whingers talk about how they might have felt if Howard's ludicrous "aspirational nationalism" had stuck. Personally it sounded a bit too much like nazism to me.

While the repetition of the term 'working families' does get irritating, I believe they were responding to research that people identified with this term. I can understand why it has become a focus for policy, because, I recall that when I first began to try combining work with family life, it was a shock to find how very hard it was. Our generation was the first to have large numbers of mothers re-entering the workforce and the policies and systems had not caught up to this fact. I don't think there is a real intention to exclude people outside of this category, it's just that this category is a crucial one for many policy areas that need updating - productivity, education, child care, taxation, welfare, housing, the list goes on. And because the family unit still has to do that unpaid work of nurturing the next generation as well as connect with the modern economy, we need to get the policies family-friendly.

This is 'buzz' to keep the dumbed down Australian public properly sedated. Intoned over and over ,it has a soothing effect and puts the babies back to sleep. It worked the last election and is still working though growing a bit strained.
The US has it's own 'buzz' in the mantra "Change". It appears to be working there as well although exactly what 'Change" is specified, no one appears to be asking for examples.
zzzzzzzzzz

I thought Howard started that mantra, was it a different one? Battlers? The mob? Omigod I've forgotten already!

I'm fed up with 'working families' - there are plenty of other workers out there as well. They contribute plenty to the treasury coffers. Others save taxpayers millions of dollars. The problem with the 'working families' tag is that other workers are not being acknowledged as they should be. It seems you need to be Dad, Mum and 2.4 kids before Rudd is interested.
Marilyn Shepherd before you start a grouch about people with disabilities I suggest you get your facts straight - far from being on the scrap heap they do a vast amount of voluntary work. Many organisations (and not just those for people with disabilities) would not be able to keep going without their efforts. Yes, there are a few bludgers (you'll find them anywhere) but many of them earn every paltry cent they are given