Czechmated into irrelevance

It was about time the Czech President got back to, you know, some governing?

Václav Klaus delivered the last of his pocket-lining lectures previously this month in Brisbane before packing his bags for the long flight back to the Czech Republic.

The two-week visit to Australia was probably the closest thing the two-term President and former Prime Minister often called, "the Margaret Thatcher of Central Europe", has come to a holiday in some time.

Swinging through Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Coolum he has certainly got a taste for the country with people forking out $180 along the way to hear him speak.

And thanks to the Institute of Public Affairs, it hasn't cost him a cent!

The draw card for Klaus was his view that "global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so" which formed the basis of his book Modrá, nikoli zelená planeta or in English, 'Blue Planet in Green Shackles'.

Klaus' visit is another example of Australia's curious and peculiar interest in entertaining the thoughts of people widely discredited in the rest of the world for their views; quite literally putting their names on the map and their bank balances in the black in the process.

These visits are now almost weekly rituals with Christopher Monckton in town before Klaus, and Nigel Lawson, a former Thatcher Chancellor in town in this week.

And just as Monckton is often wrongly credited as a 'Lord', Klaus is often called a 'Professor of Economics'.

In reality, while Klaus does have a degree in economics he cut short an academic career for a curious job with the State Bank forty years ago, only receiving the title 'Professor' when filling out the application for an honorary degree himself as Prime Minister in 1995.

But it is probably a testament to the lunacy of Klaus' views that the greatest headline his visit sparked occurred when he was denied entry to Parliament House without a security check.

And probably rightly so!

Klaus shot to notoriety in April this year as a YouTube sensation with four million hits when he was caught on camera stealing an elaborate pen from a signing ceremony with his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera.

If anything, his visit to Australia only further undermined the little credibility the man, who has done more harm than good to his country over the last two decades, had left.

But just why has no-one questioned the veracity of his visit as a sitting head of state?

Australians quite simply would not tolerate the reverse.

Can you imagine the uproar if our Governor General undertook a sponsored lecture tour overseas? Or, even worse, the Queen?

It is widely reported in Czech media that the number of Klaus' state visits have declined commensurate to an increase in the number of his propagandistic private visits as he quickly becomes a lame duck President in his twilight years.

His own people have quite simply had enough of his antics.

It therefore would come as no surprise to find that in the wake of the Parliament House incident local Czech news weekly, Týden, found that 24 percent of people just found it another incident exaggerated by their President.

Klaus often seeks to disguise the nature of his trips through engineering political meetings or diplomatic engagements on the side.

But no such meetings took place this time.

Thankfully Julia Gillard refused to meet him, as did the Governor General, and all other politicians from both sides of the aisle it would seem.

Even Liberal Premiers Colin Barnett and Ted Baillieu turned down invitations as his road show visited their states. Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce did not bother seeking out a time either, probably because Klaus' views are even beyond them.

The Czech Embassy did scramble to put together an event for him to meet some local compatriots in Sydney while opening an art exhibition honouring their first president but this hardly justified the trip.

Especially not that of a sitting head of state.

In the Czech Republic, unlike Austria and Hungary, the President has a considerable role in political affairs. Klaus has the power of veto over legislation and controls appointments to the Supreme Court and Czech National Bank. Alongside the Prime Minister he has oversight over all matters of foreign relations, the use of the military and the granting of amnesty.

With powers like these it is no wonder his Head of Protocol, Jindrich Forejt, described Klaus' treatment by Parliament House security as "incredible" pointing out that "wherever he goes and for whatever reason, he is still the head of state".

So perhaps he should start behaving like one and get back to, you know, some governing.