He's a bit like the Vladimir Putin of the South Pacific.

Across the ditch they call him the Mad Monk, which refers to the time he studied to become a Roman Catholic priest. Like his predecessor Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott was born in England and went to Australia as a toddler.

Having shed the habit, he picked up another political one - showing off; wading into the surf for the cameras in budgie smugglers and these days swaggering on the political catwalk with the gait of a muscleman.

So far this year, he's spent far too much time in Teflon John Key's company no doubt in envy of our Prime Minister's personal popularity, and hoping that some of it rubs off on him.

But Key's got to be careful that his bumbling Aussie counterpart's behaviour doesn't rub off on him. Abbott, it seems, will do anything to ingratiate himself to his populace, trying to emulate old Aussie wag Bob Hawke who once downed a pint in double quick time.

The difference between Abbott and Hawke was that Hawke was popular with his people. Abbott tried the same trick a couple of days ago at an Aussie Rules after-match function. Skolling a schooner in a mere six seconds to chants of "skol" and "Tony" - hardly the responsible drinking message that the young need these days, but then that's probably being a bit too PC.

Rightly, Key sniffed that he prefers to sip his beer.

While he's contemplating Abbott's antics though, Teflon John should steer clear of association with some of the stuff that spills from his counterpart's mouth and the signals it sends - like when he was eluding to the current deployment of Aussies and Kiwis to Iraq yesterday, referring to them as splendid sons of the Anzacs.

That's the last thing the old diggers who fought in that ghastly battle 100 years ago would have wanted. The last survivors of that dark chapter in New Zealand and Australia's military history said we should never again fight in another country's war.

So what have should we have learnt from Gallipoli, where 2779 young Kiwis were killed? Key says it was a terrible loss for New Zealand, but our knowledge of modern warfare's quite different these days.

The way we now tend to think of it is not so much the battle which we've learnt about and understood, he said. Its biggest significance is the bonds that were formed between Australia and New Zealand.

Many would beg to differ!