If we want to find a real leader in this country, we need not look further than Mike Baird.

Time and again the NSW Premier shows up his federal counterpart, Tony Abbott, by coming forward and leading public opinion with a clear statement of principle that comes from the heart.

This time it's the controversy surrounding the relentless booing of Sydney Swans legend  Adam Goodes.

It was Baird who branded it "totally unacceptable".

"Regardless of the conscious or subconscious motivations of the hecklers, we can all see that Goodsey is hurting to the point of not wanting to lace up his boots," Baird said on Facebook on Thursday.

"There is a place for good-natured heckling in Australian sport. I've booed a few Queensland league players in my time (Wally Lewis comes to mind). And some may argue that the line between good-natured and malicious heckling can be fuzzy. But there is nothing fuzzy about this. The line has been crossed.

"The relentless booing of Adam Goodes breaks this spirit of good sportsmanship. It must stop."

It took until this morning for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to speak up, urging fans to treat Goodes "with civility and dignity".

"You don't have to agree with everything Adam says, you don't even have to like his footy team but, nevertheless, I think there should be a basic respect given to all sports people," Abbott told 2SM this morning.

"Certainly the last thing we want in Australia is anything, anything at all, that smacks of racism."

Still Abbott stopped short of calling out the behaviour as utterly unacceptable, as Baird did.

During my time as  Herald correspondent in Washington, I observed how acutely sensitive US leaders were to even a hint of racism . There was zero tolerance to even a whiff of racism from both sides of politics at the highest level, from George W Bush and Barack Obama down. Former President Bill Clinton was reprimanded for referring to Obama as "a nice clean young man" and for saying "he couldn't sell watermelons". No doubt Clinton meant to reflect on his lack of experience but, to an African American, these statements are laden with a meaning conferred by the nation's history of slavery.

The point is, you have to put yourself in another's shoes to understand the impact of words -  something our middle-class white shock jocks such as Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt seem incapable of doing. Instead they blame the victim.

It's not the first time Baird has out-statesmanned  Abbott.

His quiet, steady demeanour during last December's siege in Martin Place at a time when Sydneysiders were frightened and looking for real information stood in stark contrast to Abbott's immediate rush to brand it a terrorist attack.

Then there has been Baird's forceful leadership on tax reform two weeks ago at the premiers' meeting. Regardless of your views on increasing the GST, Baird stood out as a leader who was prepared to stand up for what is likely to be an unpopular measure, while Abbott has seemed incapable of putting a firm position on what this country needs by way of tax reform  -  other than to advocate less of it.

Far less capable premiers have set their sights on Canberra. Baird should consider it. We need real leaders.