Sasha Baron Cohen’s Bruno character appears at the premiere of his new film. (AP) | More photos

SYDNEY — British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s new character has a thing for Australia’s wonkish prime minister.

Baron Cohen, once better known as the clueless Kazakh journalist Borat, has a new guise as a gay Austrian fashionista, Bruno.

In Sydney for the Australian premiere of his new movie, Baron Cohen appeared at a news conference Monday in a tight-fitting schoolboy uniform and told reporters of his meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd the night before on a talk show.

“The reason I’m late is I just had breakfast in bed with Kevin Rudd,” he said. “That guy is like, uber cute. I thought Obama was, like, the hottest guy in the world until I met Kevin.”

Baron Cohen met Rudd the night before on the set of popular talk show “Rove Live.”

Rudd joked on the program that he was worried when he found out he would be on the same show as Bruno.

“Basically I was in a state of induced panic,” Rudd said.

Baron Cohen, as Bruno, said he was underwhelmed by the fashion sense of Australian men.

“To be honest I’m a little bit disappointed because I know 150 years ago Britain sent all their gay guys over here, so ich expected a little bit more flair,” he said.

Bruno is the follow-up to the surprise 2006 box-office hit, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, in which Baron Cohen played a clueless journalist on a U.S. tour.

Baron Cohen has already done the premiere circuit for his new movie, Bruno in London, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Berlin. It hits theaters worldwide early next month, opening in Australia on July 8.