Angela Merkel needed a background info sheet on Scott Morrison during their G20 summit meeting

Angela Merkel accidentally revealed her notes during her meeting with Scott Morrison at the G20 summit. It proves Australia is a laughing stock.

You know you’ve had too many Prime Ministers in a decade when other world leaders literally require a cheat sheet to remember who the current one is.

Angela Merkel was snapped glimpsing at a background information sheet of Scott Morrison during their meeting at the G20 summit in Argentina this weekend.

Here's the German Chancellor seated next to a very relaxed ScoMo on Saturday:

Angela Merkel clutched her notes rather protectively as she sat with the Australian leader.

Note the expression of contrasting concern on Ms Merkel’s face as she no doubt struggles to remember the name of the man sitting in the uncomfortable armchair next to her:

“Ah Scheisse.”

Clearly sweating with nerves as she grapples with which of our 427 recent Prime Ministers this one is, she consults her notes to double-check:

“Thank Heidi Klum for cheat sheets.”

“Ahh yes, my good friend Malcolm. How is the old chap? Wait — who the hell is this?”

“F***ing Australia.”

We can’t see exactly what the sheet says about Mr Morrison, but it presumably contains some basic talking points, his career highlights, and the exact measurements of the chalice he uses to drink the blood of his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull each night before bed.

You can’t blame Ms Merkel for wanting to come prepared. She’s been the leader of Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, since 2005. In that time, our humble island nation has been led by John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Mr Rudd again, Tony Abbott, Mr Turnbull, and now Mr Morrison.

And it’s not like the world hasn’t noticed.

In 2015, the BBC famously dubbed Canberra “the coup capital of the democratic world” after Mr Turnbull stole the top job from Mr Abbott.

In August this year, shortly after Mr Turnbull was then rolled by the Liberal Party’s conservative right, British newspaper The Sunday Times deemed Australian democracy “dysfunctional”.

“The protocol of Canberra politics seems to demand that leaders are roasted alive if they show signs of losing support in the heartlands,” the editorial read.

It noted the important relationship between Australia and Britain, before adding: “Friends, however, have the duty to say, as many Australians are saying: ‘Mate, your system is dysfunctional.’”

In the US, CNN said our political culture “often resembles that of a coup-prone banana republic”.

Ahhhhh. It feels like just yesterday, doesn’t it?

ABC Political Correspondent Greg Jennett noted Mr Morrison was riding an uphill battle at the G20 summit, writing there was “always that niggling feeling that Australia came armed with a lettuce knife for a gun fight”.

He suggested the recent spill was lost on no one, adding: “There appeared to be a weariness on the part of the most powerful leaders who may have lost the appetite for getting to know an Australian prime minister, given the staying power of Mr Morrison’s predecessors.”

So … yeah, it’s probably fair enough that Ms Merkel wanted to come prepared.

Donald Trump heaped praise on Mr Morrison at the G20 summit.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump wasn’t shy about bringing up the leadership spill. He congratulated Mr Morrison for doing “a fantastic job in a very short period of time”, before asking what happened to his predecessor.

“They have their inquiries and when you describe the parliamentary system, it’s a foreign system to presidential systems, it’s readily understood,” Mr Morrison told reporters.

“We just ran through what the events were.”

In his defence, Mr Trump went on to heap praise on the Australian leader, telling him: “You’ve done a lot of the things that they’ve wanted over there and that’s why you’re sitting right here.

“Just getting to know each other and so far so good, I think it’s going to be a great relationship.”

Mr Morrison didn’t have much to tell reporters about their encounter, simply saying: “We have just gotten to know each other and so far, so good.”

TURNBULL’S KNIVES ARE OUT FOR MORRISON

To make matters worse, the Morrison-Turnbull war is still going.

Mr Turnbull today publicly urged Mr Morrison to call a snap election early next year to limit harm from his “destructive, mad, pointless” removal as PM.

MORE: Turnbull’s vicious swipe at ScoMo

His comments come after a spray in a series of tweets on Sunday night, where he hit out at plans for a Liberal MP to avoid a preselection battle.

Mr Turnbull told a senior Liberal Party moderate that Mr Morrison’s plan to re-endorse all MPs was about “keeping his arse” in the job, reports The Australian.

“We should force Scott to an early election because all he’s about is keeping his arse on C1,” Mr Turnbull reportedly said in reference to the Prime Minister’s commonwealth car.

Malcolm Turnbull has urged Scott Morrison to call a snap election early next year to limit harm from his “destructive, mad, pointless” removal as PM.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly has reportedly threatened to quit the Liberal Party and sit on the crossbench if he does not win preselection for his south Sydney seat,

Last week Mr Morrison announced an early, April 2 Budget, pointing to a May general election.

But Mr Turnbull said he and Mr Morrison had agreed on an earlier poll while he was still prime minister.

Mr Turnbull said the damage to the Liberal brand from the leadership aftershocks could bring down Liberal NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in the state’s March election.

The federal poll should be held three weeks before the state ballot, soon after the summer break, Mr Turnbull told ABC radio this morning.

“Plainly, the prime minister’s determination is to stay in government for as long as he can,” Mr Turnbull said.

“My view is that it would be manifestly in the interests and producers of the Morrison government to go to the polls as soon as it can after the summer break.

“My intention, and Scott’s intention for that matter, prior to my being removed as prime minister, was to go to the polls on March 2, and that would be exactly three weeks before the NSW state election.”

Mr Turnbull rejected reports he had criticised Mr Morrison in private.

Mr Turnbull rejected reports he had criticised Mr Morrison in private, saying: “I have not badmouthed the prime minister. I’ve given Scott Morrison considerable support, and I’ve given him considerable advice. Good advice, I might add.”

But he did not spare those who had helped to remove him, naming Mr Abbott, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.

He said those in the party room who voted for him to be replaced had caused the turmoil.

“Some of them try to blame it all on people in the media. Well, the media certainly has an influence on politics but ultimately members of parliament have to take responsibility for their own actions,” Mr Turnbull said.

He also defended his own performance as PM.

“The government’s woes … are a consequence of a decision made to change the leadership on August 24,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio.

“The polls, whether the opinion polls or the election results, tell that story. It was, as I said at the time, a destructive, mad, pointless exercise and the Australian people have been appalled by it.”

He rejected the claim the party’s problems were not being noticed by voters.

“I know that there has been this proposition put around that no one’s really interested in the leadership change or the internal machinations of the Liberals,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Well the fact is they are and it has done a lot of brand damage to the Liberal Party, and that’s something the party’s going to have to work through.”

— with Malcolm Farr