Remember poor Alexander Downer, our longest serving foreign minister? For all of his career he was stalked by cartoons which had him dressed as Rocky Horror's Frankenfurter.

All because he had been kind enough as Opposition leader to promote the Adelaide Fringe.

Well Australia's longest-serving finance minister, Mathias Cormann, encountered a similar problem when photographed smoking stogeys with treasurer Joe Hockey prior to the horror budget of 2014.

Mr Moneybags on full display while slashing social services ... Cormann was henceforth dogged by the impression he was a neoliberal Terminator.

Currently Cormann is one of the top contenders for the role of secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Many Australians seem quite outraged by this prospect, given his economic record as well as the failure of the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison governments to advance any meaningful policy on climate change.

I sympathise, but disagree.

First, we would be churlish not to appreciate Cormann is fit for purpose and highly qualified for the gig. He speaks multiple languages, has a European sensibility but has an Australian heart: after all, he migrated here and built his family here, which is no small commitment.

The principle must be, surely, that Australians need to be present at all the boards and bodies of international negotiation ... we need to be part of the conversation at the highest levels. Our voice is often welcomed as that of reason, but as the world moves forward, it's also clear our voice is quieter than it used to be.

Over the years since the great student of Australian culture, Donald Horne, observed we were a "lucky" country poorly served by our leaders, we have adopted two concepts to give us succour from the global threats we know are lurking.

The first comforting myth is we are the "clever country" ... evolving from exporting bulk commodities to value added products and services.

Well, as of today our bulk exports to our major consumer are under threat and we have suspended one of our major export services and income providers: education. So far, so clever.

The second myth is we are a "middle power".

I have searched long and hard to find a satisfying definition of this term.

I guess the best example is that we slipstream off major powers, protected by their might ... predominantly the US or EU.

Yet again, however, this is a thin reed. China's rise in a quicker pace than expected, Russia's capacity to advance its interests by compromising the UK (Brexit) and US (Trump) which will take a period to repair, and the general weakening of the West fundamentally since the illegal invasion of the Middle East post-9/11, has created a global terrain Australia seems ill-equipped to navigate.

For pretty much all of the post-War period, with the exception of Vietnam, we have largely been a global free rider, gaining our sense of security from the US and our economic wealth from China and its phenomenal growth.

That easy life has ended, but are we ready?

Australia is finding itself increasingly alone in a rapidly changing world. The reality is that we are not a "middle-power", but frankly risk becoming a "mini-power" - particularly on the greatest global issue, climate change.

So it's vital we be heard and our issues taken into account. This is something we have to fight for more than ever.

Of course, Mathias Cormann won't prioritise us, but he will be able to hear us ... which is the fundamental art of diplomacy: to be heard and/or have decision-makers in place that will hear you.

Having Cormann gain the role at the OECD would therefore be a good thing.

Yes, it's easy to play politics with overseas gigs. But that's just playing domestic politics on everything.

Much like a PM who has his weather eye out for the punters of Western Sydney when he demurely "condemns" the riots at the Capitol, aware we have our own cohort of quasi-Trumpsters around.

Or when former PM Malcolm Turnbull refused to support the candidacy of Kevin Rudd for the UN, the joke being that he had supposedly saved the world from our resident overachiever. But wouldn't it have been better for the candidacy to be supported?

Of course, there have been examples of smart bipartisan appointments, as when Liberal leader Brendan Nelson was appointed to NATO.

But Australia has run out of time to play partisan politics ad infinitum. Such an approach demonstrates our continued sense of inferiority.

Voters have shown during the COVID-19 pandemic they will give politicians credit when they act in the national and public interest.

How long that continues remains to be seen, given this is likely an election year.

But many who know these things suggest Australia's diplomatic weight has lessened in the decades of our relatively easy circumstance.

The trade shocks with China are just the first signs of the new world we are operating within.

Have we got both depth of understanding of the new challenges, of the deftness to operate at the high levels of diplomatic skill this new world will demand?

Having eyes and ears at the peak councils of the globe is a no-brainer - except when we only see the world through the prism of our domestic tribes.

So may Cormann succeed with his candidacy: it could provide just a little extra ballast to our foreign policy efforts, which seems right now to need all the help it can get.