Anyone who's gained a bit of weight knows it can creep up on you.

Day to day you look at yourself in the mirror and don't quite notice the extra kilos and then you'll run into an uncharitable friend and they'll tell you: "Wow, you've really kegged up, haven't you?"

Protesters bury their heads in the sand at Bondi Beach to send a climate change message to Tony Abbott during the G20 Summit in Brisbane. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

I wonder how many Australians had a similar epiphany forced on them watching the events of the G20 last weekend, except the rest of world – our blunt friend – didn't tell us we were fat but out-of-touch and maybe a tad selfish because of our apathy towards global climate change.

It was quite a week for deriding the flat-earth, parochialism of our Prime Minister as he focused "not on what might happen in 16 years' time" yet also managed to ignore the sweating brows of world leaders in Brisbane's 40 degree heat.