Look over here – a unicorn!

JULIA Gillard’s comments yesterday put the issue beyond doubt — she is the first Prime Minister to seek election on the platform of a smaller growing Australia and rejects the current growth model as “irresponsible”.

It seems Gillard’s over-arching election strategy is to slow Australia’s population growth, a populist pitch long available to Australia’s leaders and long resisted.

No, her over-arching election strategy is to get journalists and hence the public, talking about slowing Australia’s population growth. The last thing she wants them talking about is her governments lackluster performance. It’s a red herring, or to quote Baldrick in Blackadder, a dead herring. Better this than people talking about boat people, BER overspends, Garrett’s ceiling disaster, Wong’s ETS (very conspicuous by her absence) or Swan’s rubbery figures.