I actually feel a bit sorry for our Prime Minister. The poor man is trying to strut the world stage and make himself important by talking about global warming in Chinese. Australia is simply too small for him and so he spends much of his time touring the world.

This week he’s in some unknown island trying to talk to the not so friendly people of the Pacific. It’s one of those silly shirt affairs and I’ve often wondered why the ministers agree to dress up like clowns. Anyway, Prime Minister Rudd is there looking rather pallid and out of place among the islanders.

On the other side of the world, we have the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, going to Afghanistan to reassure the leaders of that country that France will not abandon the fight against the Taliban. He is doing this because ten French soldiers were killed by the Taliban and in the past that would have been enough for the French to pull out. But Sarkozy is a breath of fresh air when it comes to French Presidents. I keep on praising him for his determination and his genuine involvement in the world.

So far I have not been disappointed. He does it without donning a silly shirt or speaking in Chinese. He just goes wherever he can do some good and, quite frankly, his initiative amazes me.

Rudd must be terribly envious of Sarkozy’s prestige. Sadly, our Prime Minister is just a big fish in a small pond, a wriggling sardine with the ambition of a barracuda.

If Rudd could just perform the duties of a Prime Minister and attend to the concerns of the nation which elected him to do so, I would become less critical of him. Every time he leaves Australia for another romp on some strange stage I become more exasperated by his absence. How long will it take before the rest of Australia wakes up and realises that so far Rudd has done nothing more than hold useless robust inquiries?