It is hard to think of many successful Australian exports to the US. Barry Humphries has had some success on Broadway, and you can find Penfold’s Grange on upmarket wine lists. But Shane Warne’s name is unknown, a decent Pavlova is unavailable in Manhattan and there are few takers in Peoria for Aussie soaps such as Neighbours and Home and Away.

We now know, however, that there is an Australophile at the heart of the Bush administration. I cannot say whether Hank Paulson is secretly devoted to Kylie Minogue, but he has swallowed the down-under prescription for financial regulation, originally devised by the Wallis Commission a decade or so ago and implemented by John Howard’s first government.