As crowds of people milled around TV sets yesterday, craning for a look at various horses running after each other, I wondered at the attraction.

I get horse race fans that await it eagerly each year - since they’re actually interested in horse racing. But I don’t understand the utter passion most of the country appears to suddenly have for horses right around this Tuesday in November.

Is it the fashion? Is it the alcohol? Is it the random celebrities that suddenly appear in some company’s tent?

It’s almost as though everything's piled together - the fashion, the high stakes, the horses, the sheer show of it all - creates an irresistible package. And of course, the idea that everyone else is interested, so maybe I should be too.

It’s also a distraction, and in today’s climate, we’re besieged by bad news seemingly at every turn - from arguments over boat people, asylum seekers and what to do about them, climate change (and what to do about it), the ETS, interest rate rises, stimulus spending, and the never-ending problem of Dennis Ferguson (and what to do with him).

It’s psychology 101 to see that a three minute horse race, book ended by glitz and glamour, serves as a welcome diversion from the problems that besiege the nation.

That’s if they are problems at all.

For the Coalition, the apparent sudden surge in asylum seekers has been its own Melbourne Cup, a diversion away from its internal and bitter argument over the ETS (and what to do about it).

Luckily for Malcolm Turnbull, he can now point to people fleeing the horrors of their homeland and knocking on Australia’s front door every time Labor asks if the Coalition’s finally made up its mind on what amendments.

Keep in mind, until there is hard evidence of a rise in asylum seekers, it’s hard to know if there are actually anymore due to Labor’s apparent softer policies.

As soon as an issue hits the media in the big way, and it starts to sell or create ratings, those media companies are going to seek out more stories along the same way.