"Family" (Guest Book comment)


From the ABC Radio National 'Saturday Extra' guestbook

Phyllis Gorman: Three budget examples — 16/06/2007 4:10 PM
While the three families who presented how they budget in the current 'boom' economy were interesting, [] I am disappointed that, as usual, people like myself who are single, and living alone are invisible. We are a growing segment of the demographic, but are rarely referred to in the political rhetoric. Families are important to Australia, but so are we ... we, who often do it hard; we, who often volunteer to help others; and we, who would like to have our voices heard too. Single person households take on the full responsibility for the mortgage or the rent. We have no one with whom we can share the electric or telephone bill. And we pay taxes to support ALL Australians, not just Australian families. Please include us in your examples should you revisit how the economy affects the Australian population.

Coming in to support Phyllis Gorman about the blinkered use of "family" in public debate. For several years before she died I worked part-time & cared, first with my partner, then alone, for my deaf, frail, increasingly demented mother only because she was my mother; we were family. Yet we were never included in any of the "family" policies or discussions I heard.

Now, widowed in my forties, I am back living & working as a single person, with the prospect of continuing so for some thirty or forty years. I hope to still be engaged and contributing for that time, but am worried that 'my kind' tend to be either ignored or treated as a problem. As Phyllis pointed out, we're never in the standard "how the budget affects you" examples, nor in "your finances" recommendations, except sometimes as a throwaway glance at a 'young single' who's just starting out.
[permalink][comment] - posted by Mez @ 6/24/2007 09:11:00 am