Battlers bear the brunt - Sydney Morning Herald 11-6-08
Kevin Rudd's battlers are feeling the pinch.
The sky-high fuel prices and higher interest rates are combining to drive consumer sentiment down.
The feeling of workers towards Australia's economic performance and outlook has plummeted to a level not seen since the economy was climbing out of the 1990s recession.
At a time when people are paying more for their mortgage and the run of fuel prices shows no sign of ending, it is hardly surprising that they are worried about their financial future. If you hear enough bad news they will start to believe it.
What is interesting, though, is where the squeeze is being felt the most.
At the moment, the financial pain is most evident in households that earn $40,000 to $60,000 a year - true middle-income Australia. The confidence of this group is down 35% on a year ago.
These are Kevin Rudd's battlers, the voters who are most exposed to movements in rates and fuel prices.
They are the families who live in the outer suburbs, who travel the farthest to work so their fuel bill is higher than most others.
It is the group that is are battling with a home loan because having a mortgage is seen as the right thing to do. As Kim Beazley used to say, they are the families who struggle the most with the ``kitchen table'' issues as they look for savings to make ends meet.
Importantly, these are also the voters who flooded to Labor.
Scared of WorkChoices and the potential impact of the Coalition's industrial relations regime on their jobs, it was voters in working-class areas who shifted to Labor.
These families are feeling worse off and they are not hopeful about the future. On the question of whether now is a good time to make a major purchase, confidence is down 36.7% on a year ago and down 17,7% on how people view the next year.
During the campaign, Rudd and Swan said Labor would put downward pressure not just on inflation but the broader cost-of-living pressures for "hard working Australian families''.
This has not occurred, and since then there has been a concession from the Government that there is no "silver bullet" to bring down the price of fuel.
That is true, but there never has been.
