Davos: it ruins my   January, but it makes my year. I give it a lot of time, spend a lot of energy on it . I read about a thousand pages of background, and then I attend dozens of talks, meetings and briefings and at least one too many parties.
Growing up in Perth I never -expected a small skiing village in Switzerland would so comprehensively swamp my Januaries. For most of the past five years I have been making the trip to Davos, and doing my utmost to get the best out of the opportunity.
The days are exhausting, the nights too short, the talks too many, the debates too brief. 
And there are plenty of ways to criticise elements of this gathering. Many of them have some validity. I appreciate it is a challenge for Australia; Switzerland is a long way away from a   January beach; everything is eye-wateringly -expensive, and it is often falls around Australia Day.
And coming here doesn't win me many friends. Half of my friends think it's just an elitist champagne guzzle, the rest -wonder why I waste my time -trying to change the world. But I will keep coming as long as they let me in.
Why? Simply it is the highest powered, most diverse group of people talking about the state of the planet and the direction it is going.
Fifty-eight heads of state from England to Israel, Canada to Guinea mix with cultural, business, academic and scientific leaders. Non-government and religious groups, the world banks, UN agencies, and the Save the Children and Greenpeaces of the world, discuss the biggest issues of our time. Climate change, inequality, the rise of Islamic terror, are on the agenda along with the future of life as we increasingly cohabitate with robots, drones and other nanotechnology-powered machines. Do we turn back the boats or integrate? Do we trade openly or preserve national identities? Do we fix inequality with -redistribution or increased access to opportunities?
And yes - stone throwers get ready to pick up your rocks - there is the quandary of shall I have red or white wine? (Sometimes neither are much good). Or should we go to the party of the accountants or the bankers? Are there evil squillionaires sitting around the fringes plotting the diminution of democracy, working to make more money and pay fewer taxes?
Surely, because there are -always people sitting around the outside doing this. Only here there are also the billionaires on the -inside who are working, for we broadly accept is for the good of greater mankind.
Because I think I have seen it at its best and worst and believe the good well outweighs the problems, I am sad to not see more of Australia. Other countries about our size or smaller have far greater presence. South Africa has their colourful scarfs on so many delegates I thought Pretoria had been relocated.
Canada, an economy similar to ours in many ways, is the flavour of the forum. Each year I am amazed by the impact of individual Australians here. In business, the leaders working in Australia and those working outside who still considers themselves Australians, have a distinct style. It's a casual confidence that mixes with politeness and determination that makes the Australian executive sought out world wide.
At the pointy business end of the exchange, leaders like -Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder, whose Homebase -acquisition is causing headlines in Britain, Rob Rankin, (the CEO of Consolidated Press Holdings), Gail Kelly, and Damien O'Brien (chairman, Egon Zendher), James Hogan (Etihad, Alitalia) are all working to push barrows and -promote their businesses.
There are community leaders, people who speak up, who are -infused with just enough of the larrikin, who work to have their voice heard or to amplify the voice of the voiceless.
Jeremy Heimans, the 20-something founder of GetUp! and purpose.com, had an intimate group to lunch to discuss what can be done to better communicate the refugee crisis. Amid a busy schedule, with competing lunches that we all knew would have far better menus, Jeremy's guests -included George Soros and Richard Branson.
I was beaming as the Australian accents of Heimans and his CEO, Tim Dixon, introduced a collection of some of the world's most powerful to discuss a crisis that is threatening the -security of the entire region.
The Annual Meeting is actually co-chaired by a handful of leaders, one of whom is ex-ACTU head, Sharan Burrow, now the Brussels-based head of the international union movement's peak body. Every time she stands up to talk all I want to shout is "Go Shazza!" You don't have to agree with all her politics to be proud that we've produced the world's head union rep.
Artists Lynette Wallworth who had hundreds of the attendees spinning around in virtual reality goggles, every person immersed in the Western Desert of WA. With her was Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, his wife and grandson, three indigenous Australians who to many -people were the stars of the forum. Yes, I may have hung with Kevin Spacey, but others are more -impressed that I got to talk to Nyarri Nyarri.
As the individuals here attest, we have a lot to contribute. But the story of Australia today does need to get out. Rob Rankin, the Crown chairman and the head of James Packer's private company Consolidated Press Holdings, puts it -pretty bluntly: "Unfortunately the general perception of Australia here is that we are still largely commodities-focused, even though we are well advanced as a country in our transition to a more services-based economy." Another CEO put it more sharply: "Australia's fallen off the map." Can we make an impact here? Rankin thinks so. "There is a tremendous opportunity in future for Australian business and our government to make a strong -impression here at the forum. To have so many heads of state, -global policy makers and business people in the one place, discussing the big issues is rare. Just like -Canada has done this year, -Australia can gets its voice heard and should be fully engaged." The Canada bit is the bit that cuts the most. If Canada can be the flavour of the forum, why must we be invisible?
"The World Economic Forum plays a major role bringing -business and government together to deal with the big economic, climatic and health challenges facing the planet, Australia needs to capitalise and be much more engaged.
"As a very successful multicultural and harmonious -society we have so much to contribute without lecturing and preaching," Rankin says. The official Australian gathering was, to say the least, underwhelming. The ANU organised a gathering below one of the hotels. Mathias Cormann, Minister of Finance, fresh from a marathon of meetings, was doing the best to represent the country. But it was a modest turnout.
Which is not to criticise the ANU or it Alaskan-born pro-Australian vice-chancellor, Brian Schmidt. Frankly as a university, ANU shouldn't do much more than this. It's one thing when you have the billion-dollar endowments of Stanford, Harvard and Yale to host a big function in the centre of town, it's another when you are the national university of Australia.
Cormann puts it clearly: "Australia is an open-trading economy. Stronger global growth is obviously very much in our national interest, and that's why we need to keep working with as many people from around the world as possible to help achieve that." "We need to ensure that investors and trading partners from around the world understand our story, understand what we are -trying to achieve and have to offer so we can do more and more -business with each other into the future." Is it really about telling stories? To a great extent, among the huge deluge of fact and figures here, presentation and tweets, it is those who tell the best stories that get their message listened to.
Australia has a much better story to tell that what is being heard. It just needs to get some storytellers here. Malcolm, you are needed. Some star power would help. Can we you borrow you for a few days Nicole, Hugh or Russell? And a couple of crates of high quality Australian wine would go a long way to get people to appreciate the complexity and depth of Australia today.ANDREW ROBB P26