Aussie Politicians and Rabid Pronatalism.

This article is a follow-up to an item back in May when a Senator declared that a childless female politician was unfit to govern. It appears that, sans attacks, the new government is taking this pronatalism to new heights.

Offspring springs eternal for Spring Street jobs

Mr Holding, 34, and Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan, 33, are the only ministers in the 20-member state cabinet without children.
. . .
In an interview with The Age in 2005, [Mr Holding] said: "I have a lifestyle that suits being a member of Parliament — I don't have a young family or anything like that, so I just feel I can throw myself into the job … There's probably not a lot of work/life balance here."
. . .
Family values has been a central theme with Mr Brumby and his senior ministers . . . In his first interviews as Premier, Mr Brumby said being a father had helped prepare him for the job.

One of the reasons he understood the extent of the problems with Melbourne's public transport system was because "my kids, who are regular users of the trains, tell me how congested they are".

Attorney-General Rob Hulls, after being elected as Mr Brumby's hand-picked deputy, posed for photographs with his pregnant wife, Carolyn Burnside, and their children, Jack, 4, and Nicholas, 18 months.

Mr Brumby said Mr Hulls, once Labor's political head-kicker, was a "family man" who had mellowed.

Forty-eight-year-old Mr Lenders, after beating Mr Holding in what Mr Brumby had declared was a two-horse race for the Treasury portfolio, said it was "a job I'm ready for", in part because "I'm a father of three".

Last month, Labor MP Evan Thornley, parliamentary secretary assisting the Premier on national reform policy and himself a father of three, floated a radical idea to give parents the right to vote on behalf of their children under 18 — the more children, the more votes.

Mr Bracks' catchphrase — embraced by Mr Brumby — was that under this Government, Victoria is "a great place to live, work and raise a family".

Wow.

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