All that changed in your example is the effective tax rate of...

All that changed in your example is the effective tax rate of the tax payer.

Franked or unfranked dividends makes not difference in the real money they get in their pocket given the same gross dividend yield.

It's simple.
Your tax rate is higher than the franking rate = you have to pay the ATO the difference.
Your tax rate is lower than the franking rate = you get some money back from ATO.

In the end you are just paying your effective tax rate on the gross dividend yield.
Franked or unfranked... makes no diff.

Only difference is when.

I do notice you said "earnings" for people on pension.
There could be other concessions for specific people I'm not aware of, I would like to know.
In those cases, it might become useful.

But I imagine most people going on about franked credits do not fall into that category.

For example.... are you on pension? I'm not.