Kevin Rudd and his colleagues in the Australian government do not seem to be able to make a statement on any topic without referring to “working families”. Why?
“All our commercial banks should bear in mind … that working families are under financial pressure.” Mr Rudd said, referring to the banks raising mortgage interest rates by more than the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted official interest rates. (The Age March 29 2008)
The banks are lifting their rates because the cost of funding has increased by more than the official cash rate due to the sub-prime catastrophe in the US.
But what are working families, and are they the only people who are under financial pressure?
About 1.8 million Australians live on their own, nearly 10% of the population and well over 10% of the voting population. Clearly they don’t qualify as families whether they are working or not and they are excluded from the government’s statements. This is a very fast growing demographic and is comprised both older people (more than half of these are women) and young adults (with a bias towards males). Some of these people could well be under financial pressure, but that doesn’t count in Mr Rudd’s statements.
Of the family households, over 37% are couples only. These are people who have never had children, or whose children have left home, or people who are yet to have children. Do these families fall within the government’s definition of families or is that restricted to couples with dependent children? Do single parents qualify? Both couple only households and single parent households are increasing rapidly and some of these could also be under financial pressure.
Why couldn’t Mr Rudd warn the banks that many “Australians” are under financial pressure?
All incoming prime ministers promise to govern for all Australians – not just those who voted for them. Whether or not the large number of people living alone or in couple only relationships voted for the government, they are entitled to be properly represented and acknowledged. Failure to do so could be fatal at the next election.