It's interesting that since Rudd stormed his way into Kirribilli with the massive support of the people, the term 'Working Families' has become, by many, something of a cringe factor.

I'd just like to remind people that working families are the brick and mortar of any society. Working families are the ones that have missed out on the benefits that Howard rewarded the extremes of our society. Single mothers on benefits got massive cheques, subsidised housing, sudsidised child care (for what?), their own line at centrelink lol, maintenance from fathers etc etc...

Do I need to go into what big business has reaped from Howard?.

MAybe it's about time your average working familiy got a break?. 'Work Choices' was a total kick in the balls for all the hard work they put into this country. Many don't get that.

There is always someone better or worse off than ourselves. In Australia - accepting that there are 100,000 homeless, a completely reprehensible gap in living standards between whites and aborigines, endemic abuse of the aged, marginalisation and neglect of those with mental illness, and intolerance and abuse of those who are 'different' in some way - most of us live reasonably well and far better than the majority of the World's population.

Please, let's not fall into that trap of envying those who are worse off than ourselves simply because they receive assistance occasionally that we don't. Would you really want to be in their position?

mikisdad

Ah, the great "working family". Nobody else contributes to Australian society. Nobody else deserves consideration. Ooh it is so good to be in the majority here. It is quite the comfort zone.
What about the other Australians? What about those who would like to contribute but cannot? What about those who are single, pay taxes and volunteer their time, give to charity, preserve the environment etc.
Apparently they are not worth a cracker to the Rudd government. They can be dismissed as being of no importance at all.
I rather suspect the rest of us would fall flat on our face without them.

Communicat ~ "Nobody else deserves consideration. Ooh it is so good to be in the majority here. It is quite the comfort zone."

Thsi action towards working families is about rebalancing. Rebalanicing indicates there is an issue with the current balance towards other factions of society. The extremes of society have been getting all the breaks with working families being forced to do it the hardest. What breaks do you know of that working families have been given previously?. Pensioners get subsidised everything. The rich get breaks.

With Rudd being voted in, the rights of everyone other than working families didn't just vanish. What did vanish in Howards last swipe from his hypocratic sword was the rights and job security of the working family.

Not so hasty SIG - 'working families' get plenty - including tax breaks and child care allowances. OAPs have paid taxes and still do plenty of unpaid work in the form of other child care and voluntary work. The disabled (and this may surprise you) also do a great deal of voluntary and otherwise unpaid work - with the attitude from the rest of us that "Yeah well you might as well earn what we give you"
(How many of us would work for the equivalent of a dollar an hour? It is what far too many of them do.)
The problem is the lifestyle we expect to lead and our expectations with respect to housing, transport, entertainment, stuff for the kids etc. We complain we are struggling but, analyse it, and most of us have got ourselves deep in debt because of what we wanted rather than what we needed. It is seen as a consumer's world - and Rudd does not want that to change because he sees it as oiling the economy.