To liken John Brumby's appointment of John Lenders as Treasurer ahead of Tim Holding, to Senator Heffernan's "deliberately barren" appellation of Julia Gillard, is overblown and unfair. To splash it on the front page and in the lead editorial is unbefitting of a paper such as The Age. One might be forgiven for asking whether the current absence of scandal in state politics had finally become unbearable. To begin with, it's not at all obvious to this reader at least that Brumby's description of Lenders as "a bit older and has had a few more of life's experiences. He's a parent, father, husband. All of those things" implies that only the procreative need apply. What's wrong with the idea that marriage and parenting might actually equip a person with insights of use in serving the public good? How tragic if our reprobation of Heffernan's moralising has produced some lifestyle paranoia at the mere affirmation of family life. Family life is the foundation of a stable society and will continue to form each generation's leaders, whatever choices they then make. We are well served if those who control the public purse are acquainted with that which is ultimately part of us all.