If he were to have looked at the big star below the Union Jack at any time in the last century or so, he'd have known how many starry, starry points it has.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott during a joint press conference after the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Sydney on Thursday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But on Thursday, chatting merrily about the prospect of the Northern Territory shrugging off its lowly status as a mere territory and becoming Australia's seventh state, the Prime Minister seemed to think this would require a change to the flag.

"I'm not in favour of changing the flag, I've got to say," he said, unnecessarily. "Although I have to say that if the Commonwealth star was to be a 7-pointed star rather than a 6-pointed star, that's hardly a massive change. I would say that that is an evolution rather than a revolution."

Well, no. It wouldn't be any sort of change at all, let alone a revolution.