Prime Minister David Cameron’s Australian accent has been described as “so bad it could cause a diplomatic row.” During a speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London, the British premier tried to impersonate Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, earning a wave of applause and laughter.

But was it worth the risk? Although his audience lapped it up, the short speech has had far-reaching implications. The Sydney Morning Herald called the impressions “bizarre”, while one Australian news website said “It’s so bad it could cause a diplomatic row.”

Let’s ignore the repetition: “…to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting and chairing a meeting… where we agreed in an historic agreement.” Although it’s not best practice and could have been avoided with the use of a thesaurus, it was overshadowed by the impression described as “worse than Meryl Streep’s ‘Ah Ding-gow ay-t my baibee’ in the film Evil Angels.”

In his speech, Mr. Cameron said: “I turned to the Australian prime minister and said, ‘Thank you very much Julia for allowing us to have this meeting in Australia.’ And she said – I can’t quite do the accent but I’ll try – ‘Not a bit David, this is good news for Sheilas everywhere.’”

Surprisingly, the accent wasn’t that bad – he certainly made a better job of it than, say, Johnny Vegas or Wayne Rooney would have done. But then, they’re not the Prime Minister – it was Cameron’s mistake to think that what would amuse his British audience would be received just as well internationally.

His mistakes should stress the importance to any speaker of understanding both the local and international audience. For example, if you give your audience the thumbs up in the UK, it’s a sign of positivity – in the Middle East, it’s often considered vulgar. To avoid causing an incident, a speaker should always be sensitive to the culture that surrounds him and, when the speech is likely to cross the border, to the international community as well.

Will it cause a “diplomatic row”? I doubt it, although the attention from the press isn’t helping. However, it will damage David Cameron’s reputation for thousands of people across the world and shine an unwanted spotlight on the Premier’s ability to weave words and represent the country on an international level.

As 1930s politician Pearl Strachan Hurd said, “Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.” Just be careful, David – you’re representing all of us.