Poirot,
it's not rewarding for me at all to see that you simply don't get it. At least you find it amusing.

Tanya Plibersek reference to Abbott as a “Nigel No-friends” may well be an apt description. At home Abbott has done a good job to alienate the majority of Australians with an unjust budget. His only friends here are his cronies in the Liberal Party and a couple of arch conservative shock jocks and commentators like Allen Jones, plus the racially out of touch Andrew Bolt. Outside Australia who are Abbott's political friends? The man is off side with the broad thinking of the rest of the world on most issues, be it climate change, or the Middle East. As a "No Friends Nigel" his only mate on the world stage is The PM of as he called it "Canaray" that Womble Stephen Harper. Anyway, I would fully expect Harper to dump on Australia if push come to shove over trade. Abbott is proving himself to be a “Nigel No-friends".

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott is trying to calm anger from Australia's Arab trading partners over a change in language towards Israel by saying there has been no ­policy shift, just a ­"terminological ­clarification".

Mr Abbott revealed Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is scheduled to meet early this week with a delegation of Arab League and other ambassadors whose nations are threatening trade sanctions against Australia, which has serious implications for the multibillion dollar live and frozen meat export trade and other agricultural exports.

The crisis was sparked by Attorney-General George Brandis during a Senate estimates hearing last week when he said the Australian government believed it "unhelpful" to use the term "occupied" when referring to east Jerusalem or other disputed areas of Israel.

"The description of east Jerusalem as 'occupied' east Jerusalem is a term freighted with pejorative implications, which is neither appropriate nor useful," Senator Brandis said.

It should not and will not be the practice of the Australian government to describe areas of negotiation in such judgemental language."

The statement prompted about 20 ambassadors from Arab nations and Indonesia to lodge a protest with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and threaten sanctions on the $3.5 billion in annual Australian agricultural exports to the Arab League's 22 member states. Also, Australia exported $4.7 billion in agricultural products to Indonesia last year.

The term "occupied" is the official language used in United Nations resolutions and is consistent with a ruling by the International Court of Justice. Senator Brandis announced the change without cabinet consultation.

Two Government Senators have revealed they will not support a key budget measure to raise income taxes for the well-off to pay off debt.

Queensland Liberal National Senator Ian Macdonald and South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi have both told the Senate they cannot support the debt tax.

Senator Macdonald has also threatened not to support Prime Minister Tony Abbott's signature paid parental leave scheme.

Senators have begun debating the tax measure in the final fortnight before the current Senate expires.

Despite the unrest in Government ranks, the debt tax is expected to pass the Senate this week with the support of the major parties, the Greens, and independent Senator Nick Xenophon

Dear Shadow Minister,

You are perfectly within your rights to consider raising the diplomatic ire of 20 nations as trivial and less important than raising the ire of Lee Rhiannon.

I happen to take a different view.

I also truly believe that yours was probably the kind of thinking that drove Brandis' comment and the later 'doubling down' by Abbott.

This is of deep concern to me because in my view it reveals an attitude of hubris and of scant understanding of diplomatic nuance, one that may well put impact this country quite negatively.

While you may be excused to have our own prime minister not back away from the comments was idiotic and most certainly not in our interest. In fact it was so frighteningly amateurish as to beggar belief. Hardly a triumph in any but the most jaundiced mind I'm afraid.